


Home

by 3xtFiveStrike



Category: Highschool DxD (Anime)
Genre: F/F, Family, Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:47:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24088345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3xtFiveStrike/pseuds/3xtFiveStrike
Summary: Sona looked down at the sleeping girl, and ran her fingers through her violet hair gently. "I'm glad I reincarnated you," she murmured. As she drifted off to sleep, a soft voice echoed. "I'm glad you did too."SI-OC Fanfic, featuring Sona's Peerage! I hope that short excerpt was enough to draw your attention.
Relationships: Sona Sitri/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 36





	1. Sona da Best Girl

**Author's Note:**

> I promised myself if I reached 5 chapters, I'll post this fanfic online. And so here it is! A Sona-centric fanfic!
> 
> Disclaimer: This fanfic has an MC that is diagnosed with autism. All information in this fanfic regarding autism may not be accurate. Even if it is, it is NOT REPRESENTATIVE of all people with the condition.
> 
> I write this fanfic with absolutely no disrespect to the community of autistic people. Should any part of my fanfic hints at discrimination, DM me and I'll see what I can do about it. HOWEVER, if I say that it is not meant to be taken that way, then the matter ends there. In the end, this is MY fanfic. I'll decide what changes I want to make.
> 
> You have been warned.
> 
> Disclaimer 2: Highschool DxD does not belong to me. The only characters belonging to me are Aster and Ikari. End of story.

Chapter 1: Sona da Best Girl

A pale hand reached up, grasping into the edge of the rock. With one smooth motion, the figure somersaulted through the air and landed on her feet. She tilted her head and glanced down at the water dripping off her body, narrowing her eyes in irritation.

"Ikari, asshole," She muttered under her breath.

[Hey now! It was the only way to get to Japan without all those organisations catching us. Cut me some slack!]

"Home, safety. Promised."

[The Church shouldn't have chased us all the way here, since we were only dealing with the low level mooks, non-lethally at that. We shouldn't be too high on their priority list. Hexennacht though... they could still be on our trail, so until we reached Kuoh, we can't assume we are safe.]

She gave a firm nod. A white aura blazed around her, drying out her clothes and backpack in an instant. Turning inland, she took off, leaving no noticeable evidence of her presence.

* * *

Sona didn't know what to make of the girl in the Student Council's room. It wasn't too often that she met people seeking asylum under her family's name. In fact, if it wasn't for the abrupt way Aster had introduced herself, appearing right in front of her without warning, she would have merely assumed her to be a troublemaker and chased her out.

She adjusted her glasses. "Let's see, you are wanted by the Church and Hexennacht. Fortunately for you, the Church only wants you for questioning regarding the disappearances of some Stray Devils. I've never heard of the Hexennacht though, what did they even want you for?"

Tilting her head, Aster pointed at herself. "Experimentation."

She sighed. For all the wonders humanity offered, sometimes they truly disgusted her. Human experimentation had long since been outlawed, the Devils not wanting to restart the war with Heaven. Yet, humanity had the gall to carry it out among themselves instead.

She looked down at the book Aster gave her, which summarised her 4 years on the run. It was truly impressive, how Aster had managed to run circles around the two organisations while fighting off Stray Devils simultaneously. A thought niggled at her mind, though she seemed unable to grasp it for a moment.

Then it came to her, and she glared down at the book. An unknown organisation capable of using that level of force to secure Aster, yet it was only their lower level of henchmen? It didn't make sense. Being that powerful, Hexennacht should be renowned, yet not even someone as well read as herself had ever heard of it. Dangerous. She decided. This organisation was dangerous. It warranted further investigation.

She tapped her arm in thought. "I'll send this up to my family, and see if they can investigate this magician organisation. In the meantime, we'll smooth over your relationship with the Church by declaring you one of ours. It means that they won't go out of their way to hunt you down due to the current ceasefire, but your reputation with them will most likely degrade due to your association with Devils. As for the remaining issues, I could create a new identity for you, and enrol you in… hmm, you're fifteen years old, so a middle school of your choice."

Typing into the contract device, Sona's eyes widened at the given price, before softening in resignation. "The price, however, is for you to owe me three favours. A pity…"

Aster gestured towards the book. "Portfolio."

A faint hope sparked into life within Sona's heart. She was always envious of her rival, Rias, for gaining powerful members for her peerage without much effort. It was as though wherever she went, she found ridiculously powerful members who were willing to join her Peerage.

In comparison, for all the years she had been searching, only Tsubaki Shinra, her Queen, and Genshirou Saji, a human she was currently observing, had the potential to match any one of Rias' Peerage. The others, she selected for their mental qualities. It told a great deal, when normal humans, admittedly with some special skills, were her best options. People with Sacred Gears or powerful bloodlines just didn't grow on trees ready to be plucked like Rias made it look like.

Sona looked at Aster, her heart beginning to beat faster. "You don't mean…"

Aster gave her the brightest, most genuine smile she had ever seen, and pointed at her. "Peerage."

Sona took a deep breath, and placed her hands on the table. "You don't have to do this you know. Given your strength, and how the app rated you, you could eventually carve out your own piece of territory. You don't need to sign away your life for this, especially to a Devil you just met."

Aster's royal purple hair swayed behind her, as she gave Sona a gentle smile. Pointing at herself, she stated simply. "Safety, necessary. But."

She then pointed at Sona. "Want. Home."

Her eyes widened at her statement. What was this? The word 'touched' seemed to be wholly inadequate to describe what she was feeling right now. What was it about her that actually convinced Aster that she was the right person to entrust her life to? A Devil she met for the first time at that? Why did Aster, who lost her mother, her only family member at the age of 9, who survived in the streets for 6 years, who certainly did not need to join her Peerage unlike most of her members, literally sold her soul to her?

 _Drip. Drip_. Tears ran down her cheeks onto the table. Reaching over, she hugged Aster tightly. "Why me? Why choose me, out of so many options?"

Aster patted her on the back, before pulling away from the hug. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a note, pushing it towards Sona.

Rubbing away the remnants of her tears, Sona picked up the note and began to read it.

"I spent a year on the streets, being supported by the townspeople in Norway after my mother died, before I discovered Senjutsu. Then, I wanted to repay them, and so I became the protector of the town, driving away Stray Devils and others who wanted to hurt the people. To help me, the townspeople taught me everything they knew. All the skills I needed, they were my mentors. Foraging, disguises, martial arts, almost all of it came from them. Most importantly, they taught me that family is the most important thing there is."

"Then Hexennacht came. I knew long ago that my actions wouldn't go unnoticed, and I hoped that I wouldn't gain the wrong type of attention. It was just too bad that it was exactly what happened. When I barely repelled the first wave, I knew I couldn't stay. Some of my family... died in the battle. For their sake, I chose to cut ties with them. For them to live, they couldn't be seen helping me. I implored them to believe in me, that I would survive no matter what, and left at night. Since then, there was no chance for me to settle down anywhere, with the threat of Hexennacht looming over me."

"My first encounter with the Church ended badly. It was after I slayed a Stray Devil which crossed my path in Sviyazhsk. They approached to interrogate me, and I couldn't answer them properly as I am autistic. We came to blows, and I knocked them out before fleeing. Since then, I sought to avoid the Church as well.

The entire 4 years I was on the run, it was the one thing I wanted. A home. But it was hard to find. After all, what faction could I trust not to sell me out to the Hexennacht? The Church, the one most likely to take me in, was already alienated. However, some time back, I came across information stating that the two heiresses of the Gremory and Sitri family were going to be stationed in Kuoh. And so, I dug up as much information about the two of you."

"A lot of the things I found out about you, I liked it. Intelligent, yet cares a lot about your Peerage. Your dream especially, it made a huge impression on me. I want to help you achieve your dream, will you let me?"

She looked up, only to find Aster's hand over her own, grasping it gently, yet tightly. She sniffled and rubbed her eyes, before lighting up with a brilliant smile. "Yes!"

* * *

Sona stared at Aster in consternation. She had yet to reincarnate the girl, not because she didn't want to, but because the cost was so astronomical it threw a wrench into her plans.

8 Points! That was the cost necessary to reincarnate Aster. Sona knew Aster was strong, but she didn't know she was this strong! If she still had her Queen Piece, she would have reincarnated Aster with it. As it stood, her only choice was to use all 8 of her Pawn Pieces to reincarnate Aster. It would have been the ideal fit even, as Aster excelled in all manners of combat. She could easily act as her pseudo-Queen, her trump card, despite leaning towards the physical side.

The only problem was that she already had an eye on another candidate for the Pawns, Genshirou Saji, the owner of a strong dragon type Sacred Gear. He required 4 Points when Sona tested him discreetly a while back. Yet, Saji had not shown any inclination towards physical or magical prowess, which led Sona to believe his Sacred Gear was a support type.

She was reincarnating Aster, no questions asked. The girl was too valuable to give up. Which meant that she would either have to use the Rook on Saji, which was not ideal, or give up on him completely. No matter how she racked her brain, there was no ideal solution where she could bring both of them into the Peerage without making sacrifices on either side.

But she wasn't willing! Not when she finally had her hopes up! Not when she finally had two superb candidates willing to join her Peerage! If only she had a Mutation Piece like that damnable Rias! If only…!

She was broken out of her thoughts when Aster laid her hand over hers, before realising that she had spoken her thoughts out loud. She began to blush with embarrassment, before she noticed Aster's other hand pointing at the Rook and 3 Pawns successively.

"Try," She said simply.

Sona looked up at her with puzzlement. "It doesn't work that way. Or rather, I don't think it works that way. Even if the Rook Piece fits you... I could request for a Mutation Piece from my family, though I really wouldn't want to bother them after the mess with my engagement…"

Even as she spoke, Sona picked up the Rook and the 3 Pawns, and placed them in Aster's palm. The 4 pieces began to glow with a gentle, silvery blue light.

"Impossible… There's no way that worked," She murmured, a grin slowly spreading on her face.

A brief smile appeared on Aster's face, who then leaned forward and gave her a hug. "Drawbacks likely. Still worked."

Sona glanced up at Aster with a furrow in her eyebrows. "That's true. I can't ask this of you. Not when I have never seen anybody succeed with this. You can still back out of the deal with my permission, you know?"

Aster smiled and pointed at herself. "Resolved. Proceed."

Sona bit her lips. "Then… I'm going to reincarnate you now."

At Aster's nod, Sona cradled the 4 pieces to herself and gazed down at them with a conflicted expression, before firming up her resolution. She then pressed them against Aster's chest and started her incantation.

**I order, in the name of Sona Sitri. You, Aster Nilsen. I resurrect you as part of my family, and have you reborn as a Devil. You, my… [Special Rook], become one of the supporting pillars of my Peerage!**

The silvery blue light grew, covering Aster in a ball of light. As it slowly faded away, two black wings flared out, marking her new status as a Devil.

Sona stared at her in worry. "How do you feel?"

Aster began to test her body, with quick punches and side steps. "40% improvement. Promotion, unlikely."

Sona sighed in relief. "So you have slightly weaker enhancements due to the dilution of the Pawns. Rooks typically gain 50-60% increase in physical stats, though in your case it could be that you are simply too strong for the Rook piece to improve as much. As for the Pawns, they only made up for the lacking points, and didn't carry over their special skill, Promotion. This can work. This can work… "

Sona gave her a relieved smile. "I'm just glad nothing went wrong."

She looked out of the window, noting the slowly emerging visage of the moon. "It's getting late. I'll introduce you to the rest of the Peerage tomorrow. Do you have a place to stay?"

Aster fidgeted in her spot, and Sona could barely hold back a smile at how cute she seemed. "Yes… but…"

She sighed good-naturedly, reaching over and enveloping Aster in a hug. "You can stay with me then. Don't be ashamed to ask for things you want, okay?"

Sona pretended not to notice the tears dripping onto the cuff of her uniform, as she gently patted Aster's back.

* * *

As Aster snuggled into the blankets, hugging the snoozing Sona tightly, she thought, [Ikari?]

His reply was so quiet, yet returned almost instantly. [Yea?]

She gave a small, yet blissful smile. [Thank you.]

It took a long while, when Aster was already dozing off before he finally replied. [No problem.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> And there we have it folks! I have succumbed to the evilness of Oppai, and wrote a SI-OC fanfic in the famous, breast-filled ecchi animedom, LNdom, whatever! I was looking for Sona-centric fics, and found NONE! NONE! WHAT DO YOU MEAN!
> 
> So I decided to write this fic spinning in my head for a while and dedicate it to the super cute when serious STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT!
> 
> So I hope you enjoyed my first chapter, and I'll see you guys next time.


	2. New Sisters!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently, I'll be updating this story once every 3 days, since that is roughly my current writing speed. I also like to withhold some of the written chapters so that I can edit them and match them with future plot points, and not write myself into a hole

Chapter 2: New Sisters!

In the morning the next day, the members of Sona's Peerage filed into the Student Council Room one by one, taking up their seats. While Sona was only the Vice-President as of the moment, she had already begun taking over and renovating the Student Council Room to be her base through the use of magic

Tsubaki Shinra, her Queen, sat to her right as she always did. Momo Hanakai and Reya Kusaka, her Bishops, were the second to enter, sitting to her left in a dignified manner. Her Knight and Rook, Tsubasa Yura and Tomoe Megumi were the last to enter, with Tsubasa sitting down next to Tsubaki, while Tomoe bounced around the Student Council Room in her hyperactive manner.

"Fuku Kaichou, did something happen for you to call an emergency meeting?" Tsubaki spoke primly.

Sona gave a small smile and said. "Something did happen, and it is something to be celebrated. We have a new member in the Peerage."

Tomoe leapt forward and leaned across the table. "Arara? Is it that 1st year Saji-kun? Did you finally decide to add him to the Peerage?"

Sona folded her arms. "No, it isn't. Though I'm going to bring him in sometime soon. Our new member is somebody else."

Her gaze softened, and she waved towards the door. "She is a new transfer, and will be joining Kuoh Academy as a first year student. Meet our new Rook, Aster-chan."

As the door swung open, Aster walked in, her arms rubbing against each other in front of her. Shyly, she gave a tentative wave, before she walked towards an open seat and sat down.

"Before all of you bombard her with questions, I just want you to know that Aster-chan is autistic, and is not comfortable with being crowded. To help you understand her better, she made this small booklet on her for you to read. It's not everything, as she isn't comfortable giving out some of the information just yet. If there's anything else, you can then ask her."

Heedless of her words, Tomoe vaulted over the table and grabbed hold of Aster. "Aster-chan, is it really true you're still 15? How did you convince Kaichou to enrol you as a 1st year?"

Sona watched on with a soft smile as Aster flusteredly replied to her questions with her signature one word answers. Momo, Reya, and Tsubasa also gravitated towards her, asking their own questions while simultaneously preventing Tomoe from overwhelming the poor girl.

She glanced to her right, where Tsubaki stood. Her Queen looked at her with a raised eyebrow and spoke. "You've never impulsively added anybody to the Peerage before. Even for me, you spent weeks observing before making the offer. What makes Aster-chan different?"

Sona blinked, before raising a finger to her chin and looking up in thought. "You're right, I didn't even realise that I made the decision on impulse. But I don't believe it will turn out badly. For Aster-chan, you could say she genuinely tugged on my heartstrings. In just one day of knowing her, I already love her as a little sister. Before she came to Kuoh, she had nothing. But now? We are everything she has. It's also the reason I am sure she would never betray us.

"The second reason is because of her pure talent and strength. I'll tell the others during our first training session this afternoon, but that dorky, cute and shy girl you see there? She is the strongest person in Kuoh."

Tsubaki stiffened at her words. "What do you mean?"

Sons adjusted her glasses. "In pure power, only Rias' Power of Destruction can possibly match her. In a frontal battle, 3 or 4 of our strongest members could restrain her, barring her use of self-destructive techniques. However, we lack the killing instinct, the stealthiness, the multitude of skills she had developed over time. She could just as easily avoid a frontal battle, and go for assassinations. That way, we would be cleared out within a week."

Sona took a deep breath. "That is the third reason I wanted her. Her strength and potential is massive, true. I would accept no less from somebody who took up a Rook and 3 Pawns. But I value her insight the most. The things she learnt on the run. The new perspectives she brings to the table. All of us, me included, have much to learn from her, and that is why I made a split second decision to accept her into the Peerage."

Tsubaki stared out at the group now horsing around. Tomoe, teasing the newcomer. Aster, blushing and stuttering in response. Tsubasa, holding on to Tomoe and trying to stop her from riling up Aster. Momo and Reya patting the poor girl on the back and comforting her, as they gave Tomoe the death glare.

"It is… hard to reconcile the two images. The Aster you described is terrifying. As though she is a force of nature. Yet, seeing her before me, I can't help but reach out and cradle her. Life had not been too good to her, had it?" Tsubaki murmured.

"Indeed, just like it had been for all of us. And now, she is one of us."

* * *

Sona's Peerage was really nice. Tomoe was really hyperactive and went all over the place. She was so expressive that Aster could practically feel her energy radiate out. But she was still so mean! Tomoe was always teasing her, poking and prodding at her. Aster couldn't help but turn her nose up at Tomoe and ignore her. Aster would never admit it, but she really enjoyed the ribbing they gave each other.

Momo, Reya, and Tsubasa were like the older sisters she had back in Norway. The ones who would always fuss over her injuries after every fight, the ones that would give her plates after plates of food, so that she could eat well. And the ones that would tuck her into bed, hug her to sleep even though they knew she would wake up at night screaming herself hoarse with nightmares. Thankfully, she had better control of herself and came to terms with her circumstances these days, so she wouldn't shock Sona awake.

She didn't really talk much to Tsubaki, who spent most of her time speaking to Sona quietly. But she gave off this aura of judgement when she scrutinised her at the start. The unpleasant feeling passed soon after though, and she adopted a strict persona. She was just like her martial arts trainer, Aster nodded her head in affirmation. The type with a strict glare, tough words and punishments, but a very soft heart underneath.

From what the others say, they seemed to think Sona had a similar feel to Tsubaki. Aster agreed, but she was also aware that she herself was Sona's soft spot. How that happened, she didn't really know. But if it meant she could snuggle with her at night, then it was all for the better.

[Aster, I hate to be responsible person here, but school is starting in 5 minutes.] Ikari remarked

[Know.]

Looking up, she saw Sona checking the clock as well.

Sona then clapped her hands together. "Alright everybody, school is about to start. Head to homeroom. We'll meet up here after school again."

As the others headed out of the room, she stopped by Sona's side, and gently tugged on her sleeve. "Aster-chan? What's wrong?"

She twiddled her thumbs. "Sona-chan. Undredal Town. Check?"

Sona's gaze softened. "Your previous home right? Of course I will. You just go on and enjoy your day."

Aster smiled eagerly and strode out of the room, not noticing the conflicting expressions Sona had.

* * *

Though Sona wasn't really willing to place her as 16 on her new identification papers, she could not argue that it would be much better for Aster to attend the classes as her Peerage.

For one, Aster's education level was surprisingly high for all subjects (though it was more of Ikari's) except for Civics and History, which could be easily forgiven since she was a foreigner.

More importantly, Aster's condition meant that she needed a buffer in her interactions with other people. Sending her into a class without any of Sona's Peerage members meant she was likely to get overwhelmed by her curious classmates. It doubled as an opportunity for her Peerage to get to know Aster.

It was for those reasons that Aster was currently being introduced by the teacher in the first year classroom.

[Uwa, the three perverts look really sleazy. The bald headed one especially. Wasn't Issei said to be somewhat better than that? It doesn't seem like it though... But never mind that! Aster, stay far, far away from them, got it? I don't know why Sona actually placed us in this class.]

"Aster-chan! Over here!" Momo waved at Aster, gesturing to the empty seat beside her. With a smile, Aster walked over and plopped down on the seat beside her.

School was fun, Aster felt. It had been a long time since she was a student, though at the time, she was at a far younger age. Even though there were a million things different this time round, she still felt wistful and nostalgic at attending school again.

It took her a short while to get into the swing of things, with Momo helping her out whenever she could. She could somehow keep up with the classes with both Ikari's and Momo's explanations, and sometimes cross-checking Ikari's memories for complex ones with his permission.

At the end of the day, Aster was exhausted. Though it was nice, the fact remained that she just wasn't used to this level of social interaction. During the breaks, the students crowded her and asked her incessant questions, tempting her to just escape with her supernatural abilities. Only with Momo's intervention did she make it through the questioning.

"Aster-chan, are you alright?" Momo asked her with a worried face. She gently took hold of her hand, as she led Aster to the Student Council Room.

Comforted by her physical presence, Aster replied. "Overwhelming. Exhausting."

"Maa, it should get better in a few days, when you aren't so special anymore. Forget about it! Fuku Kaichou is already waiting for us. Let's go!"

Momo patted her on the back before resuming their walk to the Student Council Room.

Customary of Sona's Peerage, she was quickly entered into the Student Council as a Secretary, working with Tomoe. There, Aster quietly assimilated into the group, a gentle smile on her face as she worked alongside her new family.

* * *

_Boom! Boom! Crash!_

"Ahhh!" A blue shadow flashed past the rest of the Peerage, slamming straight into the wall of the school gymnasium. The human-shaped hole had clearly conveyed the strength behind the blow.

"Tsubasa!" Momo shouted in panic.

"Cough, cough. I'm, cough, fine! Aster-chan held back!" She fell out of the imprint in the wall, landing on her wobbly knees and palms.

"Don't lose focus! Momo, we need your barriers! Tsubasa, re-enter the battle as soon as you can!" Sona barked, even as she hastily dodged Aster's white Senjutsu bullets and summoned a water dragon to pin her down.

_**5 minutes ago** _

Sona paced in front of her Peerage. "We'll be having a mock battle for our training today. It's for us to get a grasp of Aster's abilities, while she in turn would learn more about our capabilities and style."

"Yes! Are we going to split up into teams? Or will this be a 1v1? It's time for this Senpai to show her Kouhai how things are done here!" Tomoe cheered and raised her fist in the air.

Sona smiled grimly at her as she pushed her glasses up. "No, it will be all of us against Aster-chan."

"Eh?"

_**Now** _

Sona gritted her teeth as she continued directing her Peerage. How could their difference be so great? Even though she knew that Aster outstripped them in both power and skill, she had thought that their combined might would pose a greater threat to Aster then it was currently.

Granted, Sona's Peerage did start off underestimating her, allowing Aster to gain the upper hand. It wasn't something she could blame them for, since even she herself made the same mistake. Despite that, these types of battles were exactly what she designed her Peerage for, to overcome a powerful foe with teamwork, strategy and skill, so it should have been manageable.

But this was ridiculous! She could tell that they were barely holding her in the kill zone she designated. She had hoped that the combination of Tsubasa, Tomoe and Tsubaki could at least restrain Aster, yet she could tell that they were slowly but surely being overwhelmed. Aster practically ignored Tsubaki after the first time Mirror Alice was used against her, and merely dodged her attacks. In retaliation, she placed her attention on Tsubasa, who finally crumbled within a few minutes under the onslaught

Before that happened, Tsubaki and Tomoe were desperately trying to injure Aster, or at the very least, hinder her from taking down their Rook. Yet, unlike most Rooks, Aster had incredible explosive speed, capable of going from 0 to 100 in an instant, effectively throwing off the duo's efforts.

Meanwhile, Reya was keeping a close eye on Aster's movements and intentions with her spying magic, a magic clearly not meant for its current purpose, but one she repurposed out of desperation to keep track of the speedy Aster. The early warning it gave, even by a split second, had been invaluable in stopping several of Aster's attacks.

Momo and herself were focused on controlling Aster's movements and defending the Peerage against Aster's own ranged attacks, Momo with her barriers and she herself with water magic. Originally, Sona should have been preparing the killing blow, but she had no other choice but to join Momo to prevent their frontline from crumbling right away.

Exactly what made her so powerful? Sona could tell that Aster's sole advantage over their group was her durability and power. In speed, both Tomoe and Tsubaki matched her, while Tsubasa was still durable enough to withstand her blows despite her disadvantage. Reya gave them advanced warning, while Sona and Momo provided superior firepower and defence.

So what was the problem? Her sharp eyes quickly grasped the answer. All those advantages she mentioned, Aster possessed them as well. She clearly excelled at aura reading, possibly even having 360-degree coverage, granting her pseudo-precognition.

Her wealth of experience and technique allowed her to set Tsubaki, Tsubasa and Tomoe against each other. While they were well trained and had excellent teamwork, it still faltered in the face of her subtle movements and repositioning. Her Touki only made things harder, constantly using hidden bullets, abruptly extending the range of her blows, and as a defence to force openings, all of which caught them off guard.

Even her ranged ability was impressive, though Sona was still the superior magician. The combination of Momo and herself was able to apply sufficient pressure on Aster, and was the only reason Aster had not torn the frontline apart in an instant.

It was just too bad that the stalemate didn't last long. Now that Tsubasa was out of the way, the fight quickly took a turn for the worst. Aster turned her attention onto Tsubaki instantly, sending out a textbook punch. At this change, a mirror quickly grew in front of her, as Tsubaki hoped to return the strike and turn the tables with her Sacred Gear, Mirror Alice.

_Ah, it's over._

Sona came to this conclusion right away. It was a feint, (for what else could such a telegraphed strike be?) but one Tsubaki fell for because of the immense pressure and exhaustion she was experiencing. And just as she expected, Aster's fist stopped short of the mirror before she twirled to the side, lashing out with her other fist for a backhanded strike. It slammed into Tsubaki's chest, sending the Queen flying, making another body imprint in the wall beside Tsubasa's.

With their frontline effectively dismantled, Aster rushed to the back row, intent on taking them down. As a last ditch effort, Tomoe dashed in from the side intending to skewer Aster on her katana, which Aster easily grabbed with her Touki-protected hand. She pulled Tomoe towards her and slammed a palm into her stomach. The Knight flew, rolling several times across the wooden floor and eventually stopping in a heap against the wall.

Sona sighed, and raised her hand. "We surrender."

* * *

The entire Peerage sat down facing Aster, who currently had her face in her hands. Blood had flowed to her face, causing her to look like a cherry as she mumbled out apologies every few seconds.

Tsubasa and Reya had their heads down with a depressed expression on their faces. Tsubasa for being the first to be eliminated and Reya for not being able to contribute on both the offensive and defensive side. Tomoe however, was staring at Aster with fascination. "Uwa. So that's what an 8 Points reincarnated Devil means. You're amazing, you know that?"

At her words, Sona rubbed her forehead and interrupted before Aster could faint due to giddiness. "Aster, don't apologise. Reya, Tsubasa, don't be so depressed either. I had an inkling of the result the moment I suggested the mock battle. It was helpful, as I spotted several coordination issues within the team. Before that though, Aster, what are your thoughts?"

Peeking out of her hands, Aster saw that Sona was being completely serious. She then took out a piece of paper and began writing. The Peerage leaned forward to read what she had written.

"A few issues. But one very critical one. **LAX**."

Sona frowned. Did she mean that they were lax in their training? That couldn't be it. Looking up at her with a questioning gaze, she asked. "What do you mean?"

"In that battle, all of you lacked conviction. It was just training, just sparring, the word **JUST** says a lot. This environment is too peaceful, too relaxed. Even as you try your hardest, train with all your might, there is no pressure. All of you are too comfortable in your current position."

"The only challenges you have are Stray Devils, which only comes once or twice every few months. And even those are shared with the Gremory's Peerage. Without a hammer, no matter how much grinding you do, you won't get a useful blade. You must train with your life on the line."

"We did the best with what we could," Tsubaki responded. "There was no way we could have carried out our training in the way you stated."

Aster smiled up at her, before continuing writing. "You're right, you did your best. But now, you have something better, me. Would you trust me to take charge of your training? To act as your hammer?"

She looked up at them, her mouth drawn in a hopeful and earnest manner.

Silence reigned, and Sona looked at her Peerage. It was definitely hard to admit to being inferior to a girl younger than themselves, especially one as harmless looking as Aster. Personally, she encouraged it as it was the main reason she brought Aster in. But it had to be their choice. There was no way she could force them to accept the training if they didn't acknowledge Aster first, which was one of the reasons she arranged for a mock battle.

"I don't see why not." Tsubasa stood up. "Aster is strong, incredibly strong, it's time we stopped ignoring that. In fact, she could teach me a great deal given the similarities in our style. I agree."

With Tsubasa's admission, the others quickly agreed. Sona could see that they were agreeing not because of peer pressure, but rather, their determination and the drive to improve. A warm fire grew in her heart, and she looked towards Aster, giving her a nod.

Looking at her Peerage, Sona opened her mouth. "Rest assured, I'll be working with Aster regarding your training. She won't be handling it single-handedly.

Aster's eyes widened at their acknowledgement, before bouncing on her seat. Gesturing the others to come closer, she began writing down her thoughts and suggestions on the paper. The others crowded around her and began reading.

* * *

Watching Aster walk off with Sona, Tsubaki turned to the rest of the Peerage. "What do all of you think about Aster-chan?"

Tsubasa shuddered, hugging herself. "It was terrifying. I don't think it's as obvious to the rest of you, but the entire time she was focused on me, I felt like a cat facing down a lion. The aura of power, the intense scrutiny and focus. She saw through every move I made, and I felt so… vulnerable. Helpless. If it wasn't for the rest of you, I would have been crushed."

"Yea! Yea! It's so different from how she is normally too. Did you see the moment the mock battle started? She changed so suddenly, from a shy 'Don't look at me!' type of person, straight to a Terminator! And you know what's even scarier? I got the feeling she wasn't even going all out!" Tomoe cried out.

Reya scrunched her forehead and looked up at the rest of them. "But… she had to be this strong. Otherwise, she would never have made it through the four years on the run. I'm as upset at our difference as the rest of you, but all of us should remember that Aster-chan gave up much for her power. I'm not afraid of her, because I know she would never hurt us. Underneath it all, Aster-chan is still the bashful and reserved girl we met this morning."

Tsubaki gave her a relieved nod, before turning to the final member of the group. "Momo-chan, you are in Aster-chan's class right? What do you think of her?"

Momo looked at the rest of the Peerage. "Reya is right. I spent the entire morning with her, and the Aster we saw this morning definitely isn't fake. She is as shy, as awkward as we saw with everybody she interacted with, aside from Fuku Kaichou. But Fuku Kaichou is an exception after all."

Taking in a deep breath, she continued. "Looking past her strength, she feels just like the little sister I never had. I don't think it's right for us to judge Aster-chan on her combat strength, and ignore the wonderful girl she is underneath. If we are upset about our difference in strength, then what we can do is to start chasing her now. We might not be able to overtake her, but we can at least stand by hers, and Fuku Kaichou's side."

"Then it's settled." Tsubaki reaches out with her open palm. "For Fuku Kaichou's dream!"

Smiling in turn, the rest of the Peerage placed theirs on Tsubaki's. "For Fuku Kaichou's dream!" They yelled, and tossed their hands in the air."

Far off in the distance, Aster smiled in relief. Sona looked over in puzzlement, and asked. "Did something happen?"

Aster shook her head. "Nothing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the fic will mostly go from different POVs, though I'll come back to Aster a couple of times. I find it hard to write a compelling story from Aster's POV when she only says a couple of words, though they speak full sentences on their own.
> 
> Our SI, Ikari, will not be playing a major role in this fic. He is purely supporting my OC, Aster. So if you're afraid of betrayal, of him taking over or something like that, you can rest easy. If you're here JUST for that, sorry, this isn't the fic for you. :)
> 
> I am currently crossposting on both AO3 and fanfiction.net. Just an FYI. Take note that the character profile I uploaded (on a separate work) will not be on fanfiction.net as it does not allow images together with the chapter.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the second chapter, and I'll see ya'll next time.


	3. Saji, and the Gremory Peerage!

Chapter 3: Saji, and the Gremory Peerage!

Aster giggled as she snuggled into Sona’s side, who gave a fond sigh at her actions. Her expression however, was quickly replaced by a grave one.

“Aster-chan, I received news of Undredal Town this morning. It’s not good news.”

She stilled. Raising her head, she looked Sona in the eyes with a serious expression. “Tell.”

“4 years ago, every citizen of Undredal Town… disappeared.”

Aster’s expression slowly morphed into one of growing horror, with a haunted look in her eyes. “No. Can’t be. Not true. Please? Not true?”

Sona felt a pang in her heart at Aster’s expression, and hugged her tightly. “Don’t lose hope, they might not be dead. There’s no bodies, remember?”

Despair was all Sona could see on Aster’s face. “Wish they died. Experiments, horrific. Live subjects needed. No bodies, natural.”

At her words, Sona felt a chill run down her spine. Before she could respond, black miasma began to leak out of Aster’s body. Her hug tightened slowly, Sona’s bones creaking in pain.

“Aster-chan? Aster-chan! Wake up!” Sona cried out worriedly. This grotesque expression Aster had was not one she had ever expected to find on her face.

“I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all. Those bastards, haven’t they taken enough from me? I’ll tear them limb from limb, and force them to drink their comrades blood. I’ll stake their leader’s head on a pike, and keep him alive so he can watch me **TEAR! EVERYTHING! HE HAS! TO PIECES!”**

Her body suddenly went slack. Sona hurriedly climbed out of Aster’s bone crushing hug, before laying her on her lap. Reaching for her phone, she was about to call her family for assistance, when Aster’s eyes opened.

“Mmm, I’m actually enjoying So-chan’s lap pillow. I can die happy now.”

“Aster-chan?!”

She giggled. “Sorry, Aster-chan isn’t home right now. Can I take a message? Oh man, I always wanted to say that!”

Sona glared down at her. “Who are you!?”

“You can call me Ikari. After all, when I’m in control, it means that Aster-chan is incredibly, incredibly, angry. She’s currently liable to destroy everything in her vicinity, so I placed her somewhere where she could destroy stuff without regretting afterwards. I’ll call her back when she is done venting.”

“Explain, **now!** ” Sona knocked her knuckle on her forehead.

“Ow! Okay, look. You know the basics of Senjutsu right? That one needs to expel the malice and ill will in order to maintain their sanity. But really, Aster is the only person to ever learn Senjutsu in her hometown, and doesn’t have a mentor. What do you think she did with it?”

Sona’s face turned ashen. “She took it into her body, and cultivated it without knowing. Is that what you are?!”

Waving her hand in a lackadaisical manner. “You’re about right. Before you call your sister to destroy my consciousness, let me finish. Most people who don’t expel the… let’s just call it black chakra, can’t handle the malice and go crazy, becoming a puppet for death. That’s where their bad reputation comes from.”

“Meanwhile, there is a small number that successfully cultivates both types of chakra. But obviously, they can’t embody both life and death that easily unless they have great mental training, enlightenment and surety of self. So their mind splinters, resulting in two separate beings, each representing the two extreme ends. At this point, either the two beings fight a war to see who lives and who dies, either returning to situation number 1 or being severely weakened, or they choose to coexist. Which I can assure you, has less than 1% chance of happening. Aside from our case, I’ve never heard of anybody else succeeding.”

“Anyways, that’s what is happening to us. I have no particular interest in taking over this body, and Aster likes to be in control and have fun. Therefore, we compromise, and are in a symbiotic relationship. It’s also the reason why we have such a steep growth rate, since we don’t really need to spend time removing the black chakra when we train in Senjutsu.”

He paused, hurriedly raising his hands. “I don’t ask you to trust me right away. Only a fool would, after they know what I am. Just give me a chance to prove that I’m not working against Aster and you, alright?”

Sona took a calming breath. “Alright, but what happened to Aster? That… that wasn’t her.”

Ikari paused. “In her rage and despair, Aster drew too heavily on me before I could put a stop to it, causing her personality to shift. I’m currently letting her work out her anger while drawing out the black aura. When the process is complete I’ll bring her back out. Hopefully, there won’t be much change.”

“Anyways! Aster originally wanted to talk to you about her own training, but we got side-tracked. I’ll just help her tell you then. Basically, you know that we have two double-edged techniques. When we were on the run, we didn’t dare to explore too deeply into them since their backlash is fairly severe, though they were part of the reason we could escape successfully.”

“The first, as you would expect, is based on our fusion, the use of both black and white chakra at the same time, which we call Yin Yang Fusion! It’s the least risky of the two, and we have already achieved some success with it. But we still wanted you to supervise us in case we suffer a backlash. At mastery, we should be able to utilise this technique without any backlash permanently, multiplying our strength. So it’s important.”

“The second though, is the trickier one. The Eight Inner Gates. We discovered it when we accidentally opened the First Gate during a life and death struggle. It is a technique based on breaking past the 8 limiters in the body, allowing our chakra and physical abilities to reach orders of magnitude higher! We already successfully opened the Second Gate.”

“We didn’t progress too far in this technique because from the Third Gate onwards, it risks permanent damage to the body due to the backlash. Now however, we have a Devil’s physiology, and access to the Sitri Clan’s resources. So we need somebody skilled enough to watch over us, to prevent backlash.”

Sona was quiet for a moment, before opening her mouth. “I’ll discuss that with Aster when she’s back. I’m not comfortable agreeing to anything without her knowing, if you would excuse me.”

Ikari grinned. “You’re excused! Anyways, speaking of the Devil, she’s about done now. So So-chan, be prepared for a crying girl! Toodles!”

_As Ikari sank back down, he pumped his fist at the successful deception. Most of what he said was true, except he believed that he was not a piece of Aster’s mind. He knowingly guided Aster to Senjutsu, and made it so Aster would absorb the white chakra, and him the black, arranging for the both of them to maintain the balance. He said it that way to prevent people from looking too deeply into his soul, not wanting people to find out his past. Something about the situation still didn’t make sense though, but for the life of him, he could not figure out what it was. He gave up after a while, and sank deep into Aster’s consciousness._

Aster’s body went slack again. A split second later, tears began to roll down Aster’s face. 

“Sona-chan… Hic... Sorry...” She hiccuped.

Cradling Aster’s head, Sona murmured gently. “It’s fine. It’s fine.”

The two stayed in silence for a while, interrupted every now and then by Aster’s sniffles.

“Revenge. Definitely. Live well, after. Best revenge.” She whispered.

Sona reached out and wiped away the tears on Aster’s face. “Of course. We’ll nail down Hexennacht soon enough, and wipe them out once we find them.”

Curling up even more in her lap, Aster nodded her head. “Hai!”

* * *

Sona rubbed her forehead as she looked down at the unconscious form of Koneko Toujou. She only let Aster go to school a few minutes earlier, and this happened.

“It’s too early for this,” she sighed. “What happened?”

Aster gave her a guilty look as she twiddled her thumbs. “Ambush. Won’t stop. So, knocked her out.”

Of course, Sona groaned. Koneko, with her enhanced senses, must have caught on to the remnants of Senjutsu Aster used yesterday at the gymnasium and tracked it to her home. Given the Nekomata’s history, her reaction was plausible.

Pinching the bridge of her nose with one hand, Sona said. “I’ll call Rias to collect her Rook back, and arrange a meeting tomorrow. I have to introduce you and Saji, who I plan to reincarnate today, to her Peerage anyway, just so there won’t be any more altercations between our Peerages.”

It wasn’t long before Rias herself turned up at the scene. “Oh my, what happened here?” 

Upon spotting Koneko’s unconscious form, she turned her piercing eyes onto Sona. “You better have a good explanation for this Sona, otherwise…”

Sona set her mouth in a thin line. “Don’t put the blame on us before you know what happened, Rias. Koneko ambushed my newest Rook, Aster-chan, on the way to school, completely unprovoked.”

Rias’ eyes narrowed. “Koneko wouldn’t do something like that. Don’t think you can fool me that easily. Give me the real explanation!”

Sona sighed as she rubbed her eyes in irritation. “Aster-chan specialises in Senjutsu, Rias.”

It was as if Sona took a sledgehammer to Rias’ face. Rias gaped, before falling into silence. “I’ll… I’ll bring her back then. I assume we’ll be letting our Peerages meet to prevent any incidents like these from happening soon?”

“I was hoping for tomorrow after school actually. Are you and your Peerage free at that time?”

“We are. We’ll see you then.”

Carrying Koneko in a princess carry, Rias spread her Devil wings and took off.

Sona turned around and looked at Aster, who was avoiding her gaze guiltily. “It’s not your fault. Don’t worry too much.”

Peeking at her face, Aster nodded. She placed a finger on her chin, before looking at her questioningly. “Saji-kun? Reincarnate? Hasty?”

“You’re one to talk. You didn’t complain when I reincarnated you the day we met,” Sona grumbled jokingly.

“Anyway, it’s not so much as hasty, as the fact that I have more leeway now. In the past, I accepted the fact that I may not be able to find truly strong candidates. So instead, I wanted to use a number of weaker people, trained towards different specialties so that we could match them in every aspect. But in this manner, we were like a fragile machine, where an unsuited cog could cripple the whole.”

“Hence, I agonised over every possible addition to the Peerage, worried that our personalities would clash. That our powers wouldn’t match. That it would somehow end up detrimental to our teamwork.”

“But now, we have you, our strongest and most versatile member. We no longer have to follow that plan in such a strict manner. In terms of pure strength, we are now capable of overpowering almost every Peerage in our generation. I don’t intend to use that method as it is crude and barbaric, but it acts as our safety net, our last resort. Therefore, my requirements regarding potential members doesn’t need to be as high as it was before. Saji has good potential, considering he requires 4 Pawn Pieces. His personality… won’t affect the Peerage much, as long as I can handle his fixation on me. And that is good enough for me.”

Sona turned around, and strode in the school’s direction. “Now come on. We wouldn’t want to be late for school. Let’s go.”

“Hai!” Aster nodded her head earnestly, and followed behind her.

* * *

“Oooohhhhhhh! I’m totally ready for this! I’ll become the strongest Pawn there is! For Fuku Kaichou!” Resolve burned in Saji’s eyes, as he pumped his fists in the air.

Sona sighed in resignation. Just 10 minutes in Saji’s presence and she was already worn out. Even so, his enthusiasm was admirable. Picking up the 4 Pawn Pieces, she gestured. “Are you ready?”

Saji snapped to attention. “Yes!”

Adjusting her glasses with her other hand, Sona began her incantation.

**I order, in the name of Sona Sitri. You, Genshirou Saji. I resurrect you as part of my Peerage, and have you reborn as a Devil. You, my [Pawn], become one of the supporting pillars of my Peerage!**

“Ohhhh! I can feel the power flowing in me! Is this an anime? It’s an anime isn’t it!”

Tomoe slapped his head. “Idiot! Of course not! It’s your body getting used to the Devil’s demonic power. Though as a Pawn, you won’t start with much, but you will have a faster growth rate.”

Sona then broke in brusquely. “Saji, try manifesting your Sacred Gear. It should be the embodiment of the strongest thing you can think of.”

“The strongest thing I can think of…! Understood!”

Saji’s eyes flashed, pulling back his right fist. Sending it out, he yelled. “Die!”

Everybody stared at him, unimpressed. 

“A normal punch?'

“Does he suffer from imagination issues?”

“Is that really the strongest thing he knows?”

Clenching his left fist, he turned and cried out. “It’s not just a normal punch! It’s Saitama’s normal punch! There’s a big difference!”

Sona slapped a hand against her forehead at their antics. “Putting that aside, Look at your right arm. You’ve succeeded.”

Hearing that, Saji stared down in shock. A peculiar looking vambrace covered his forearm, with a deformed lizard at the back.

Sona leaned in closer, studying the Sacred Gear. “It looks like the Sacred Gear Absorption Line. It is recorded to weaken a foe’s power. A decent support-type Sacred Gear."

Aster looked at Sona and shook her head. “Better. Absorbing. Transferring. Both capable. Power, blood, Sacred Gear strength, many things.”

A gleam entered Sona’s eyes, and a predatory smile appeared on her face. “That is indeed impressive. The tactical options it grants…” Sona trailed off, her mind drifting off at the possibilities.

“Uoohhhh! My Sacred Gear is impressive?! I’ll be the strongest Pawn to ever exist! Aster-chan! As the two newest Devils, let’s work hard to catch up to the others!” Saji grabbed hold of Aster’s hand and shook it vigorously.

Aster looked at him with a floored expression, before smiling mischievously. “Yes! Senpai!”

Saji froze at the magic word, a blank expression on his face.

Reya waved her hand in front of him. “Saji-kun? Are you alright? Are you still with us? Saji-kun?!”

A series of giggles then broke out. Tsubaki’s mouth continued to twitch, as she fought the urge to laugh. Tsubasa covered her mouth with one hand as she struggled to conceal her giggles.

Tomoe was the most blatant, rolling on the floor and smacking the floor with her hand. “This idiot…! He got fooled by Aster-chan so easily! I can’t wait to see his face when he finds out Aster-chan is the strongest among us!”

Placing her hands on her hips, Momo chastised Aster. “Aster-chan! You can’t do that! Now we don’t know how long it will take before Gen-chan comes back!” 

Right after she finished, she broke out into laughter.

Sona stifled a grin at their laughter. With the inclusion of Aster and Saji, the Peerage had gotten more lively and fun. She was glad that she never hesitated to reincarnate both Aster and Saji. Lacing her hands together, she rested her chin on her hands and watched her Peerage with contentment.

* * *

“Another one? Sona, aren’t you too hasty?” Rias raised her eyebrow as she scrutinised the two new Devils before her.

She was wary, rightfully so. After Koneko had awakened, Rias then obtained her side of the story. Sona’s new Rook, Aster, was incredibly strong. In the first move, she disabled Koneko despite it being an ambush. Koneko refused to give up despite being rendered helpless, and was knocked out in the second blow.

This painted an ominous picture of her rival, who had obtained a powerful piece of her own. And now, there was another one, so soon after the first. It spoke a great deal of Sona’s confidence, when she was able to commit to such life changing decisions so decisively. In return, Rias herself was now feeling the pressure from her competition.

What unnerved her the most was how _harmless_ Aster looked. If Koneko never made the attack, it was likely that Rias would have never realised Sona had such a trump card up her sleeve. No matter how she probed the girl, she could only tell she was a weak, new Devil.

“Hasty? Hardly. I’ve merely gained some confidence. This is Genshirou Saji and Aster Nilsen, the two Devils I recently added to my Peerage,” Sona said calmly.

At her name, both Yuuto’s and Akeno’s eyes flashed to Aster. They narrowed their eyes. Koneko was already glaring intensely at the girl the moment she entered the Student Council Room. Despite their burning gaze, Aster waved at them with a gentle, innocuous smile, never breaking her composure.

Saji was clearly taken aback by the tension between the four of them. He continued looking back and forth between Aster and Rias’ Peerage in confusion. Taking in a deep breath, he stepped forward.

“Hey! What’s your problem with Aster-chan, huh? You’re all senior Devils, why are you bullying our kouhai? Is it because she’s new and weak?! That’s it isn’t it?!”

A snicker came from his back, which he promptly ignored. “If you’ve got a problem, come at me! I’m her Senpai! I won’t let you bully her!”

The trio turned their gaze onto him, now full of incredulity and scorn. Sona sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Saji…”

Rias laughed, before adopting a strict expression. “Enough, the three of you! Koneko, you know what to do. Akeno! Yuuto! Restrain yourselves!”

“... Hai.”

“Hai, Buchou.”

“Ara, Buchou. Hai!”

Koneko padded to Aster’s front and held out a hand. “Sorry. But… Next time… I won’t lose.”

Aster smiled down at her, shaking her hand firmly. “Anticipate. Challenge.”

All of a sudden, immense pressure pulsed off Aster’s form, the ambient chakra coming down harshly on Rias and her Peerage. Rias shuddered, her breath quickening as she fought to retain her composure. Then it was gone.

“Anticipate. Challenge.” Aster repeated, looking down at Koneko. She gave her one final shake, before letting go of Koneko’s hand. With a fire in her eyes, Koneko nodded her head shakily, and slowly made her way back to the others. 

Rias forcefully controlled her trembling and gritted her teeth. “Sona. What... What was that?”

Sona looked at her seriously. “Motivation. Aster wanted to motivate you and your Peerage, which I agreed to after considering it. Rias, remember, in Hell, anything is possible with enough power. A Rating Game, that’s your answer.”

Light entered Rias’ eyes, and she looked at Sona assessingly. “I won’t thank you for this. But… I appreciate it.”

Turning back, she looked at her Peerage. Yuuto and Akeno, seated as they were, showed no obvious sign of having withstood the pressure. But from the thin line on Yuuto’s mouth, the sweat running down Akeno’s neck, she could tell that they were shaken by the demonstration.

“Let’s go.” She stated simply. Nodding their heads, Yuuto and Akeno rose from their seat, and the 4 of them slowly made their way out.

* * *

In the room, Aster exhaled, trembling slightly. Tsubaki quickly came forward to support Aster. “Was that necessary? Letting them know of Aster’s strength so quickly?”

Even though none of them felt the pressure, Sona’s Peerage knew the moment Aster started, as Koneko began to wobble on her feet. It was only because Aster was holding on to her tightly, that she didn’t collapse to the ground right away.

Sona sighed. “For one, Rias and her Peerage already knew from the incident yesterday morning. There’s no further advantage in hiding it from them, and I trust them not to spread the knowledge around. This also conveniently places them in our debt for a piece of information worthless to us, as much as she would deny it.

“I also felt both sympathetic and empathetic to her plight, and felt inclined to offer some assistance. I managed to escape my engagement with a chess match, though the Sitri family did suffer somewhat in the aftermath. Rias though, is still stuck in hers. At Aster’s insistence, I went through the terms of her engagement earlier, and it stated that she could escape it with a Rating Game. Hence, I allowed Aster to proceed with her plan. The rest though, is up to her.”

Saji was still scratching his head in confusion. “Fuku Kaichou, what are all of you talking about?”

Sona sighed yet again, as Tomoe leapt to Saji’s front. “See! It’s like this…"

“EEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH?! NO WAYYYY?!”

* * *

“... Buchou.”

“Buchou.”

“Koneko? Yuuto? What is it?”

“... I will learn Senjutsu.”

“I want to train under Sensei during the Spring Break.”

“... I got it. I’ll make arrangements for the two of you.”

“Ara ara, Buchou. I guess we can’t be left behind, can we?”

“You’re right, Akeno.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note:
> 
> Note: I used ‘he’ when Ikari is in control, simply because he is male.
> 
> Provided some insight into Ikari’s and Aster’s circumstances, covered Saji’s reincarnation, engineered the meeting between the two Peerages… Gave Rias’ Peerage a boost. Hmmm, I think that’s it!
> 
> As for her current power level, she is weaker in ranged abilities compared to Sona, Rias and Akeno. She would need her current Fusion, and open the 3rd Gate to match base Sairaorg in vol 10.
> 
> Koneko learning Senjutsu might be a surprise, but I have an Interlude of her coming up a few chapters later explaining why.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, and I’ll see you guys next time!
> 
> PS: I really liked Eight Inner Gates as a Taijutsu technique, so I gave it to Aster! I think it’s the best physical technique there is, though you are welcome to think otherwise!


	4. Spring Break, and Familiars!

Chapter 4: Spring Break, and Familiars!

It was in the wee hours of the morning, when Sona was still asleep. Aster scribbled vigorously only her notepad, using her Touki to ensure the noise did not disturb Sona.

Setting the pen down, she nodded her head in affirmation, and reflected on their current plans. There wasn't much she and Ikari could do at the moment, aside from preparing and training for the inevitable.

While Aster was sure there could be more the two of them could do, she didn't see much of a reason to do so, preferring to leave it to Rias and her Peerage to handle the brunt of it. Why should she sacrifice her time with Sona and her new sisters, to make things easier for them?

No reason, that's what. Besides, they were able to handle most of the troubles in the original timeline anyway, so it wasn't like it was particularly necessary. Giving them a sense of urgency was just something she could conveniently do to prepare them as well. There was no need to go further.

Her eyes grew colder at the thought of their enemy, gripping her pen tightly. Even though Aster had tried to ignore it at the beginning, both she and Ikari knew that there was a chance Hexennacht would take their anger out on the citizens of Undredal Town. It was the only option she could take, the choice which had the highest possibility of the citizens' survival. They placed their hopes on the ceasefire between the Three Factions, yet they did not expect Hexennacht to succeed with the mass kidnapping on its own, especially without support from their backers. They certainly underestimated them.

Aster and Ikari were well aware that the enemy was far too entrenched within the Devil and Human ranks for the exposure of Hexennacht to do much damage. There was nothing they could do at the moment, except to passively defend against them despite her rage and anger.

While they could come clean with their knowledge, it would immediately start a full-scale war, right when none of them were prepared for it. Furthermore, this left her at the mercy of the transcendent beings interested in Ikari's reincarnation, who might simply kidnap them to study and experiment on him. Even more might simply decide to silence them permanently, to prevent any form of information leaks. Unless they followed Serafall permanently, the two of them would never be safe.

No, the two of them decided. They would keep their influence to the minimum, wait patiently for the enemy to be drawn out, and finally, deal a killing blow to them, in revenge.

The pen snapped in her hand, shocking her out of her thoughts. The killing intent in the room was heavy, and she quickly removed it with her white chakra. It was too late however, as she watched Sona stir from her sleep, sitting upright rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Aster-chan, are you alright?" Sona stepped off her bed and made her way over to Aster.

"Fine. Spring break. Training plans." She replied, gesturing towards her notepad.

Sona reached over and picked up her notepad, flicking through it. "Just so you know, during Spring Break, I'll be bringing all of you to the Underworld. It's about time I introduced all of you to my family. There's also more space for us to conduct training."

She sighed, and muttered in vexation. "More importantly, my sister will be there. She'll be your supervisor in your training, even though I only asked for a member of her Peerage…!"

Aster giggled. "Sera-san, expected. Sis-con. Sona-chan, tsundere!"

"I am not a tsundere!"

* * *

It was the second day of Spring Break. Sona brought her Peerage to the Sitri Clan's ancestral house on the first day, introducing them to her family. And today was the day they started their training.

Aster half-knelt on the ground, white and black lines glowing under her skin, and looked at the Satan, Serafall before her. Breathing harshly, she struggled back on her feet, and streaked forward yet again.

Chakra burst forth, both the white of Touki, her life force, and the black of malice and ill will, of death, leading ahead of Aster and zooming onto Serafall. She dodged them casually, before coming face to face with Aster. White and black revolved around both fists, as Aster lashed out fist after fist. Even as she fought Serafall in close combat, the chakra bullets came streaming back.

Instead of dodging, she smacked them away with her hand, protecting herself with demonic power. The bullets were strewn all over the place, some creating craters from their impact, some even hitting against the barrier Serafall erected, violently shaking it.

A sudden strike from Serafall sent her flying back, and she tumbled through the air, barely able to land on her feet in time. Even with Fusion and the first Two Gates, Serafall treated her like a child. Her current level of power obviously did not match even a fraction of Serafall's true power.

"Come on, Aster-chan, is that the best you can do?" Serafall twirled and pointed her wand at Aster, who was panting heavily and barely supporting herself on the ground.

Glaring up at Serafall, she gasped. "Not. Yet. "Gate. Of. Life! Open!"

This was the decisive moment, the reason Serafall was here. If the activation showed signs of going awry, Serafall would have to step in and forcefully stop it. With white chakra it would have been dangerous enough. With black chakra in the mix? Aster could reduce herself to ash in an instant. However, if she succeeded, it would be a weapon on par with any Balance Breakers.

The black and white lines under Aster's skin glowed even brighter, branching out even further. All of a sudden, they began to flicker and Serafall tensed, springing forward to support Aster. Before she could forcefully halt the technique, the glowing lines faded from view, and Aster slumped to the floor.

Serafall lowered the barrier around the two, now assured of her safety. Sona and the remaining members of her Peerage, who were watching solemnly from outside the barrier, then dashed in and crowded around Aster's fallen form.

Aster cracked open an eye. "Almost. The Gate. Almost broken through. End of break, certain…!"

"Of course! Aster-chan."

"You'll master it for sure!"

Momo and Reya held on to her comfortingly as they reassured her.

"Well, you should also work on your Yin Yang Fusion more. It's not anywhere as seamless or effective as it should be. Maybe check the Sitri Clan's libraries? I think they have books on the Yin Yang theory, which you seem to base your technique out of anyway." She commented offhandedly.

Sona whipped her head up in shock. "Are you still my Onee-sama? No, you can't be. Who are you and what have you done to my Onee-sama?"

Clasping a hand to her heart, she gasped out loud in an exaggerated manner. "Ara So-tan ! Even I can be serious when needed, you know?"

Placing her face right in front of Aster, she continued. "And on that note, are you interested in becoming a Magical Girl ?! You have the exotic look, the height, the plumpness needed! Come on, join me on the Miracle Levia-tan show! Pretty please ?"

"No."

"No."

Both Aster and Sona refuted her right away.

Serafall recoiled, backpedaling and clutching her heart. "My heart is crushed !"

Sona sighed, and turned to the rest. "For the next 8 days, we will be training from morning to night. Magical training in the morning will be conducted by me, while Aster trains with Onee-sama. In the afternoon, we will move to physical training, where Aster-chan will be in charge. Understood?"

"Hai! Fuku Kaichou!" They chorused.

* * *

Sitting around a table, Sona looked at her parents and sister steadily. "Otou-sama, Okaa-sama, Onee-sama. Are we here about Hexennacht?" She asked, straight to the point.

"Yes we are. For the time being, the Sitri Clan has stopped looking into it. Hold your horses, Sona." Her father raised his hand, stopping Sona from unleashing a tirade.

"But what we've found so far is worrying. Sona, you are not to begin further investigations into this organisation on your own. I will only say this. Hexennacht has roots that possibly outstrips what the Sitri Clan possesses. This matter requires great caution." Her father warned.

Sona's building rage suddenly cooled. "Even our family is no match for them?"

Serafall then broke in. "We are unsure. Their backers are shrouded in shadows, and the Sitri Clan's resources alone are not enough to go further aside from determining that they DO have backers. I have already passed this matter on to the other Satans, and will be furthering our investigations using Hell's connections instead. An organisation unheard of able to pull off such a feat undetected is indeed a dangerous one. Furthermore, we've passed this information on to the other Two Factions and the magician organisations, which we hope can pressure them further and force an opening."

With a stern face, her mother looked at Sona in the eyes. "We have hidden the reason for our investigation, which I hope would protect you for the time being. Still, stay vigilant, and expect reprisals from Hexennacht. After all, it's not hard to make the connection, as Aster-chan joined your Peerage right before we began the investigation. Be careful and stay safe while we probe them further. To improve your safety, we'll be pulling on our connections to push forward your appointment with the Familiar Master, for you to get familiars for your two newest Devils, especially Aster."

Serafall continued. "I'll do my best to push your Peerage along in this period of time. Aster-chan with her Third Gate should be sufficient against any possible attackers. The rest of your Peerage will need to work hard during this period of time so that they have the ability to repel any attackers. If something you can't handle happens, call me right away, understood?

Sona closed her eyes, before opening them with resolve. "Understood. We'll make everybody who comes regret they ever targeted MY Peerage."

* * *

The next eight days passed with a blur. For magic training, though Aster provided the initial inspiration, Sona was the one who assisted each of them with creating their own techniques, or variations of their current ones.

Every one of them took their own specialty one step further, creating new variations to better fit their role. The frontliners with reinforcement magic, while the magic users experimented with their magic.

As for physical training, the magic users mostly practiced with disengaging techniques, and to incorporate their own magic into close combat. The frontliners had the privilege to be chased by Aster through a variety of environments, even in the sky.

Serafall, popped in every now and then to assist them in their training, aside from focusing on Aster in the morning. Even though Sona would usually take this as a sign of coddling, which she hated, she knew this time that it was necessary. With Hexennacht looming over their shoulders, they could not afford to skip out on her assistance.

* * *

"I feel like i died several times in the past few days… But this makes up for it… Is this Heaven in Hell?" Tomoe moaned, as she relaxed under the hands of her masseur.

"Don't get too used to it. This is a reward for our efforts in the past few days. Something like this won't come so regularly." Sona stated primly.

"I do feel the effects of a different training method. The pressure Aster-chan put us under, the desperation in every single fight, the different environments day after day, all of it really makes our style more polished and efficient." Tsubaki noted.

Aster blushed and gave a thumbs up. "Pressure. Great teacher."

Momo and Reya looked at each other before nodding in unison. "Even the both of us, now that we are using magic offensively. It's making a big difference to both our long and close range. The cincher is our combination technique with Fuku Kaichou, no, it's Kaichou now isn't it? The combination of a whirlpool, Reya's lightning, and my tiny razor-sharp barriers…"

Tsubasa shuddered. "The amount of lightning and barriers wasn't even much, since the both of you are so new to your magic. Even so, the tree completely disintegrated after 5 seconds! It was a tree that took in Hell's energy for centuries, you know?! It was extremely tough, but was still reduced to dust so easily. I pity whoever decides to stands in your way."

"Zzzzzzz… Zzzzzzzz…"

"Ara, Saji-kun is already asleep. I would have expected him to be peeking on Kaichou, and not drifting off to sleep," Tomoe pointed out.

"It can't be helped. He probably did more exercise in Hell then in the Human Realm after all," Momo sighed.

Sona looked up at the rest of them. "Anyway, there is still one more reward coming up for Aster-chan and Saji. My parents have helped us book an appointment with the Familiar Master. It's also partly to bolster our strength due to the Hexennacht threat. It will be on April 9, four days from now. The two of them will get a chance to meet their fated familiars."

"A familiar huh… I wonder what kind of ridiculous familiar will Aster-chan get?" Tomoe wondered

"Isn't that on a school night though?" Momo asked

Sona nodded her head. "Indeed. While I'm not very happy about that either, it's an opportunity for the two of them."

* * *

"A familiar?! I'm going to be getting a familiar!? I want the strongest one there is!" Saji exclaimed.

Sona adjusted her glasses. "Saji, a familiar is not something you can choose, though I do hope you contract with a powerful one as well. Anyway, we will be moving to the Familiar Forest via this Teleportation Circle. Stand within it, everybody, and I'll start it the moment we are ready."

"Hai Kaichou."

"Hai."

The Teleportation Circle glowed silvery blue as Sona injected her magical power. It quickly grew blindingly bright, engulfing the group and taking them to the Familiar Forest before fading away just as quickly.

"By the way Kaichou, senpais, what are your familiars?" Saji asked in curiosity.

Tomoe laughed. "Ara, now then you ask? Well, we'll summon them for you to see then."

Five magic circles appeared before them. From Sona's circle, a blue, watery form of a peerless woman emerged.

"My familiar is the Undine. I contracted with one of them as they synergise well with my Water Magic, improving my combat ability."

Aster's mouth dropped open, as she looked on in shock. "Not muscular… Not muscular…"

"You must have caught on to the performances we put out!" A man dressed in a simple singlet and shorts dropped down.

Putting on his cap backwards, he continued. "Undine are spirits who seek the pure-hearted. But due to their appearance, they are the wet dream of every horny man out there!"

"Indeed," Sona's familiar, Diana, then spoke out. "Our kind garners an excessive amount of attention from men. Hence, whenever any men come to the Familiar Forest, Zatouji will inspect them discreetly, before telling us to enact either the muscular Undine performance to drive them away, or to show ourselves in our natural state. If they can still accept an Undine even though we looked like that, then they are worthy to be followed, despite their perverseness. Once we have been contracted however, we will simply claim to have originated from another part of the world."

Saji was currently nursing a nosebleed. "Am I… am I considered good enough?!"

Diana frowned down at him. "If it weren't for the fact you are in Sona's Peerage, I'm sure my sisters would have given you the muscular Undine performance. I highly doubt they would contract with you based on your personality alone, let alone the compatibility issues."

"Gaha!" Saji clutched his chest, falling back in shock.

Momo then broke in. "This is my familiar."

On her hand, lay a single pink flower. "It's a special flower that only grows in the Familiar Forest, and grows peaches that restores magical and demonic powers when eaten, once a month. When contracted however, I can feed it my magic power to grow peaches more often, allowing us to maintain a stock. Mo-chan, say hi!"

Aster leaned forward and watched it closely. Her hand reached out to gently grasp a petal in wonder. "Petal. Moved!"

"That's right! Mo-chan is sentient. But she likes to stay asleep most of the time, and only wakes up when I feed her."

Reya raised her magic circle. "Next up is my familiar. The Devilish Moth, Silky-chan."

A dark blue and black moth the size of her palm twitched, before taking off. It quickly blended into the environment, fading from view.

Reya smiled. "She has an aura which conceals her in a passive manner. More importantly, she can scatter dust which induces hallucinations."

Tomoe cheered, raising her palms, the magic circle hovering above it. "And me! My familiar is a hellhound! He's still really young though, only three months old, so don't expect to see him in combat anytime soon. It will be a few more months or so before I'll let him fight alongside us. Say hi, Haruki-kun!"

The black puppy, only as big as Tomoe's forearm, barked at the two of them, before lolling out his tongue as he panted.

"So… cute." Aster whispered. She picked him up gently and began rubbing him all over the place.

Haruki's eyes narrowed in enjoyment, relaxing into Aster's grasp.

"Aw, he likes you!" Tomoe clasped her hands together.

"And the last is me. She is my familiar." On Tsubasa's hand, a palm-sized fairy appeared, dancing in glee. She flew up to Aster's and Saji's face giggling in happiness, before floating around Sona's Peerage.

"Twinkle-chan is a fairy, a type of spirit. She helps me out by giving me her blessing, improving my attributes by a slight margin on the condition that I bring her out to see the world."

Saji raised a hand to his chin, before looking towards Tsubaki quizzically. "I see, so that's everybody's familiars. Wait, Fuku Kaichou, you don't have a familiar?"

Tsubaki adjusted her glasses. "I don't. I know what kind of beings I can contract with, but I personally detest them. Hence, I didn't form a contract."

Sona clapped her hands. "Anyway, now that you know the familiars we have, it's time for the both of you to consider yours. What do you want, Saji, Aster-chan?"

Magic circles glowed as the rest of their Peerage returned their familiars. Saji had a thoughtful look on his face. "Kaichou, I don't really know. Maybe Zatouji-san can lead us around and I'll see which being I have affinity with?"

Sona nodded her head. "Aster-chan?"

Aster then raised her hand. "Life Tree. Hell Thorn."

Zatouji spun around to face her. "Are you crazy? Life Trees and Hell Thorns require extremely pure life force and death aura to grow. They typically kill their masters to obtain the said nutrients! Furthermore, they kill each other on sight! Are you trying to suicide, girl?"

Aster looked at him steadily. "Confidence."

Spreading her hands, she generated white chakra on one hand, and black chakra on the other. "Nutrients, no problem. Kill me… Can try."

He shook his head. "It's your funeral kid."

Saji looked between the two in shock. "What are they? Life Tree and Hell Thorns?"

Sona sucked in a deep breath, quickly hiding her astonishment. "Life Trees are a species descended from the World Tree. They are only found in paradises of the world and almost never in the Underworld. To my knowledge, the Familiar Forest is the only place in the Underworld where Life Trees can be found, due to its ley lines and connection to the human world. They are extremely resilient, with an obscene level of regeneration. Only accomplished Senjutsu users can contract it as they are the only ones to have the lifeforce to spare. Even a Devil would be sucked dry within a week."

"Hell Thorns however, grow in places with such bloodshed and death that the air would stink with it. What is surprising is that the species is also a bud from the World Tree, except it originated from Muspelheim, the infernal world in Norse Mythology. Since then, it spreaded through worlds, eventually finding its way to the Underworld, and even select areas of the Human Realm."

"If the contracted person does not provide sufficient nutrients, the Hell Thorn would either drive its owner to insanity, thereby committing mass slaughter to feed it, or even consume him. It's even more lethal than a Life Tree as it's destructive prowess is its main strength. More importantly, the two are like fire and water. If they ever meet, they would attack each other with viciousness, entering a battle to the death."

She looked at Aster with knowing eyes, clearly impressed by her selection. "Granted, I can see how it would work. If Aster-chan can maintain control over them, she can manipulate their growth with her Senjutsu abilities. They can become a mobile armory for her, both providing a different set of abilities for her."

"Like I said, it's your funeral." Zatouji grumbled.

He then continued. "I'll bring you to the Life Trees first, since it's less dangerous. Afterwards, I'll guide you to the Hell Thorns, but I will be maintaining a certain distance. I'm not interested in getting caught up in a battle to the death between the Hell Thorns and you kids."

It wasn't hard for Aster to persuade a Life Tree to give her a seed. Gently inputting pure white chakra was enough to endear her to the Life Tree, causing it to part with one. Cradling the green, pea-sized seed in her palm, Aster looked at it in fascination.

"You'll need to start transmitting lifeforce to slowly grow it. I suggest you grow it in a vine-like form so you can keep it on you constantly, allowing you yo feed it easily." Zatouji suggested.

"Don't look down on its small size, it can contain a great deal of lifeforce. When needed, you can utilise the lifeforce stored in it to change its shape rapidly, though it will burn through the lifeforce the longer it maintains its new form. Any damage will lead to a sudden decrease in lifeforce however, depending on the extent of damage."

Aster nodded her head at his suggestion. A magic circle bloomed, and the seed withdrew into Aster. "Not safe. Hell Thorns. Next."

He grunted. "You're right. Don't let them even catch a hint of that seed, or the entire population of Hell Thorns will chase us to the end of the world. I fancy your chances better when dealing with a Hell Thorn and Life Tree seed on their own then an entire population of Hell Thorns."

[Ikari, switch. Me, protect seed.]

[You got it.]

A flash of darkness passed through Aster's eyes. "Old man, let's go to the Hell Thorns. I'm ready to get this over with, and go home to have a goodnight's sleep."

Zatouji studied him curiously, before shrugging. "It's this way."

Ikari turned around and faced the Peerage. "All of you should stay back and hunt for Saji's familiar in the meantime. If something goes wrong, Aster and I can't afford to take care of all of you. Once we're done, we'll find you all again."

"But…!" Momo reached out, and faltered in her steps, unsure of her next words.

"We can't stay, but Kaichou at least can, right? She is a better magician than you after all. We won't let you stay alone, right, Kaichou?" Tomoe grinned.

"Tomoe is right. Don't expect us to let you face this challenge on your own." Sona said.

Turning her head to the others, she nodded at them. "We'll be fine. Go on."

Momo and Tsubasa bit their lips. Tsubaki turned around. "Let's go. Zatouji-san, lead the way."

Ikari sucked in a breath in trepidation. "So-chan, you should move back as well. Your magic only needs line of sight, so there's no reason for you to be so close."

"Fine. And don't call me that!" Sona retorted, before stepping back.

Black aura pulsed off Ikari, allowing him to blend with death aura in the area, before moving towards the mass of black thorns. The Hell Thorns remain unaware of his approach, and he knelt down beside the closest, mature one.

Wrapping a hand around one of its thorns, he carefully inputted pure black chakra which was far superior to the aura in the area. _Ksh ksh ksh_. Its thorns rustled as it eagerly devoured the treat. Ikari slowly began to converse with it, promising a certain amount of black chakra in return for its seed. It took awhile before that particular Hell Thorn replied. Another pea-sized seed, this time dark red in colour, sprouted from the nearest thorn. Ikari smiled while Aster cheered in his mind, and he grasped the seed in their hand.

 _Chink chink chink._ Ikari froze. Aster's excitement must have caused a ripple in their chakra, and the Hell Thorn must have caught a hint of the Life Tree's aura. Thankfully, it was only for an instant, and the other Hell Thorns did not sense it.

Even so, the Hell Thorn he was currently touching was on edge, having loaded its thorns. Any sudden movements and he would be made into a pincushion. Even if he survived, the other Hell Thorns would attack immediately due to the commotion.

 _Ksh ksh ksh._ He exhaled in relief at the sound. The Hell Thorn must have decided it was wrong, withdrawing its thorns. He could feel Aster's shame and guilt as she maintained a tight hold on her chakra and the Life Seed. Ikari then withdrew from the group of Hell Thorns warily.

Reaching Sona's side, he collapsed to the ground, panting. "That had to be the scariest experience I ever had, even worse than the time we broke out of a Hexennacht facility."

He looked up towards Sona and reached out with his arms. "So-chan! Comfort me!"

She smacked him on the head. "Shut up and stop calling me that!"

He laughed in response. "That's that! Toodles!"

Aster's eyes blinked, and the expression on her face changed to one that was more reserved and shy.

"Sona-chan!" She leapt up and engulfed her in a hug. Sona returned the hug petting her on the back.

"Alright alright. Let's go find the others shall we? Once Saji finds his familiar, we can finally go back for a goodnight's sleep."

"Hai!" Aster smiled.

With that, they made their way back to the others, tracking them easily with Aster's Senjutsu.

"Kaichou! We've found a familiar for Saji-kun! It's a baby wyvern!" Tomor shouted as she waved at them.

The group was crowded together, observing the wyvern which was the size of Saji's forearm.

"That's a fairly impressive familiar. If you feed it well with a Devil's demonic power, you might even be able to ride on it in a year's time." Sona exclaimed, bending down for a closer look.

"Aster-chan, you succeeded didn't you!" Tomoe bounded over and grasped her arm.

She returned a brilliant smile. "Hai!"

"Don't be too satisfied. That's only the first half of the challenge. She has to grow them and prevent them from killing each other AND herself next. I wouldn't be too complacent." Zatouji huffed.

"Anyway, that's it for all of you. Go on, get out of here! I had enough scares today and just want to go on my one month's break before the next one! Go go go!" He exclaimed, waving his hands at them in a shooing motion.

"Bye! Zatouji-san!"

"Thank you very much, Zatouji-san!"

"Sorry for the trouble!"

As Sona's Peerage disappeared in a ball of silvery light, Zatouji turned around and muttered under his breath. "Damn it, these kids are ridiculous. A darkness wyvern is already pretty impressive , but the Life Tree and a Hell Thorn? At the same time? She's crazy. What's next, a Sprite Dragon?"

* * *

4 figures sat arrayed around a table. The crimson-haired man laced his fingers and laid his chin on them. "Zatouji mentioned somebody contracted a Hell Thorn."

Another figure was scribbling on a notebook, poring over magical calculations. "... Isn't that the one that always drives their user crazy? That's why we told him to report any new contractors to us, right?"

"Zzzzz… Just kill him… if it's so troublesome… Zzzz."

Sirzechs Lucifer nodded his head. "The thing is, she contracted a Life Tree at the same time."

Ajuka paused. "Hoh? How is that possible?"

"She really did it! That crazy girl! But… I love it !" Serafall jumped out of her seat and raised her wand in the air.

Sirzechs eyes flashed to the Magical Girl. "You know her, Serafall?"

"Of course, Sirzechs-chan ! She's my sister's Rook! There's no problem with this, because she can control both white chakra and black chakra !" She gave them a V-sign.

Ajuka looked up with interest. "There's somebody that can cultivate both types of chakra? Serafall, bring her over next time. I want to talk to her."

Sirzech sighed. "So I supposed there's no problem with just observing for now?"

"Zzzzz… Zzzzzz… Zzzzz…"

"Of course, Ajuka-chan, but it better be a contract!"

He slapped a hand to his forehead, before teleporting elsewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gave some insight into Aster's and Ikari's thinking and personality, and a short training montage.
> 
> I hope that the familiars I picked were suitable. The problem was that there was no information regarding the familiars of the Sitri Peerage, so I had to make them all up. I changed Saji's familiar completely. Instead of whatever trash mob he had that had no screen time, he now has one that would grow and fight together with him, just take it as something my OC butterflied away.
> 
> I hope you guys liked the familiars i picked for Aster and Ikari. I was like, 'Aster fought for 5 years straight with her bare hands! She don't need no familiar!' Then I saw 'Devils are weak to holy weapons.' So I went 'NOOOOOO! MUST COUNTER!'
> 
> Hopefully, this chapter wasn't too wordy for you, and that you enjoyed it. I'll see all of you next chapter!


	5. It has started!

Chapter 5: It has started!

"Please let me join your Peerage!" A girl in brown hair bowed deeply.

Aster was already snickering at one side as Sona held her head in her hands. It was by pure coincidence that the girl in front of her, Ruruko Nimura, saw their flying practice in the evening the day before. It was Sona's mistake, having assumed that every student had already left the school aside from the ORC, leading to the current situation.

"Since when was recruiting so easy? Aster-chan came asking to join, then Saji, and now Ruruko. Somehow, it makes me feel bad for all the Devils who had to coerce or trick people into joining their Peerages." Sona muttered under her breath.

"Ara Kaichou, isn't it fine? Ruruko-chan is clearly determined to go through with it, even though you already tried to scare her off with stories of blood and gore." Tsubaki placed down a stack of papers on Sona's table. The other members of the Peerage were bustling around performing their duties, even as they kept an ear out on the discussion.

Sona looked up, staring at Ruruko intensely. She returned her stare unwaveringly, refusing to back down. Narrowing her eyes, Sona mentally ran through the information she had on Ruruko.

Ruruko Nimura, 1st year student. She was in a family of four, consisting of her parents and an elder brother. She was often compared to the high-flying elder brother, leading to a high pressure home environment.

From this, Sona deduced that Ruruko approached them for several reasons. The first was to escape from her home environment, and the second was to finally have something belonging to herself. Something which she could hold close to her heart, that would never be used by her parents to attack her self-confidence. And finally, to find a true home. A place that she could simply be herself, and not fear rebukes and scoldings.

The first two reasons were shallow, but pure in intent. Sona could appreciate Ruruko's pride and stubbornness, which meant that she would never go back on her decision and would see it through to the end. This would have been enough to convince Sona to accept her, and the last reason was merely the cincher. It was much too similar to Aster that she couldn't help but reach out a hand.

Sona eventually opened her mouth. "Alright. However, that is only if I can do so with my last remaining Pawn. It may sound callous, but my Knight Piece is too important for me to casually use it on anybody. If I can't, then I'll simply wipe your memory and we will be done here. Do we have a deal?"

Ruruko nodded her head vigorously. "Yes! Do I simply touch the Pawn Piece?"

As Sona gave her assent, Ruruko stretched out her hand, touching the last Pawn Piece on the chessboard. It began to glow with a warm, silvery blue light.

Ruruko looked up at her. "That's good right? I can be reincarnated with just one Pawn Piece right?"

Sona sighed, before looking at her seriously. "Indeed. This is your last chance to back out. If you go ahead with this, we will be bound together for the foreseeable future, which may even be centuries. Do you understand?"

"I won't go back on my decision Kaichou. Do it." Ruruko sucked in a deep breath and tensed.

"Understood."

**I order, in the name of Sona Sitri. You, Ruruko Nimura. I resurrect you as part of my Peerage, and have you reborn as a Devil. You, my [Pawn], become one of the supporting pillars of my Peerage!**

As the blue glow faded away, Ruruko flexed her new Devil form and wings. "This feels strangely unnerving, yet natural at the same time."

"Saji! Take charge of Ruruko, and show her the things she would need to do as the newest member of the Student Council. Ruruko, we will fill you in on devil matters after extracurricular activities, understood?" Sona barked.

"Hai Kaichou!"

"Hai!"

* * *

A flash of light erupted in Aster's aura vision.

Aster jerked her head, turning towards the disturbance. It was within the area she could sense with Senjutsu, meaning that it was within a 200 metres of her position.

[Has it started?] Ikari murmured.

"Aster-chan, what's wrong?" Sona turned and looked at her in curiosity.

"Holy energy." Aster replied distractedly, focusing her attention on the area.

Sona narrowed her eyes. "Let's head to the site. Kuoh Town is stated to be the territory of Devils. Whether it's the Grigori or the Church, they shouldn't be causing trouble here."

As the two of them flew straight towards the disturbance, they spotted a figure rising into the air. Flying towards her, Aster and Sona stopped right before her.

Sona moved forward. "Fallen Angel, Kuoh is the territory of the Devils. What is your purpose here?"

"Ara ara, detected so quickly~ Rest assured Sitri heiress, we aren't planning on fighting any of you Devils any time soon~" the Fallen Angel covered her mouth and laughed scornfully.

"We are just here for a week or two, and we'll be out of your hair. Don't worry, we won't threaten your 'precious' ceasefire~" She gestured in an exaggerated manner. Her feathery wings spread out, before she flew off.

Sona narrowed her eyes as the Fallen Angel disappeared into the distance, before glancing down at the ground. "Let's see what made her use Holy Energy in the middle of enemy ground then."

The two of them landed in the park, noting Rias' figure. As Aster and Ikari expected, she was standing over the fallen form of Hyoudou Issei, and seemed to have finished the reincarnation procedure.

"So that Fallen Angel used Holy Energy because of him? Killing people in our territory… They are becoming too arrogant." Sona frowned.

Looking up at Rias, she continued. "Still, I never would have expected you to reincarnate him. Aren't your standards too low, Rias?"

Rias laughed. "Whoever I choose, it's none of your business isn't it, Sona? In any case, we can't retaliate for this incident, since she didn't attack anybody connected to the Devils. I suggest we take a wait and see approach."

"I'll leave it to your judgement. After all, your group is the one most likely to conflict with them given your newest Piece. I take it our non-interference pact continues?"

"Indeed. Now, I'll return my beloved Pawn to his family. Goodbye, Sona." With that, Rias took off into the sky, carrying Issei on her back.

Staring off in Rias' direction, Sona asked. "Aster-chan, what did you sense from Hyoudou Issei?"

Aster scrunched her eyebrows together and paced, thinking of the appropriate way to phrase it. "Dragon aura. Compared to Saji-kun... Fainter, but, higher quality."

Sona raised a finger to her chin. "So he has a stronger dragon type Sacred Gear than Saji's. It's only harder to detect because Issei is far weaker and unable to express much of his Sacred Gear's strength. I see, I see… Rias' newest [Pawn] is something to look out for in the future."

Turning around, she pushed her glasses up. "But we won't lose to them. Let's go, Aster-chan."

"Hai!"

* * *

"Saji, Ruruko, only the both of you have yet to know the goal I am reaching for. The reason we work so hard day in and day out. The others, I have already informed." Sona paced in front of her Peerage.

"My dream is to establish a Rating Game School." She stated simply.

Ruruko raised her hand. "What are Rating Games, Kaichou?"

"Rating Games are a sport which have taken the place of conflicts and battles, a 'civilised' battleground so to speak. It's also a way to discreetly build up Devil forces in a competitive manner, with the least bloodshed."

"However, the main problem is its exclusivity. It is only open to Devils which have their own Peerage, the high ranked Devils and above. In Hell, the low and middle ranked Devils compose 80% of the Devils' population. Without training and guidance, few of them would ever rise up to a high ranked one and gain the Evil Pieces."

Sona adjusted her glasses. "I want to create a Rating Game School that provides the guidance they need. To that end, there are several critical things it requires. The most important thing is that promotion of ranks must be allowed via tasks the School assigned. Otherwise, the Devils we train might have the strength, but without a Peerage of their own, they are not qualified to participate in Rating Games."

She paused. "The problem with this is that it requires the acknowledgement of almost the entire upper echelon of the Devils. Without their support, the School is doomed to fail. We've been gathering favours by assisting in experiments and testing, but it has recently come to my knowledge that this will not be enough."

Sona walked to the whiteboard and wrote down one word. "Strength. Aster-chan reminded me of this one fact. Hell is ruled by strength, first and foremost. The support we need comes from Devils centuries, even millennia old. To them, we are just upstart Devils, inexperienced, rash, reckless, _**foolish.**_ "

She closed her eyes in frustration, before reopening them. "If every Devil was rational and practical, things would be much easier. Unfortunately, Devils are the epitome of unpredictability and irrationality. In that case, we must make an impression, that we are not to be taken lightly. That's why, unlike in the past, all of us are training with everything we have. So that when it's time for our debut, I can stand straight and boldly proclaim my dream!"

She turned towards the two of them, staring at them intensely. "I wanted both of you to know why we are being so harsh on ourselves. We've already gone past the start line, running with our lives on the line. Saji, Ruruko, are you ready to join us?"

"I'll do everything I can Kaichou!"

"Hai Kaichou!"

Turning around, Sona pointed to the track. "Then both of you, start running!"

* * *

The matter with the Fallen Angels didn't progress too differently from what Aster and Ikari expected. With Sona's permission, Aster maintained surveillance of the church outside of their range. The main goal wasn't to watch them though, as both of them had full confidence in Rias' Peerage to handle the Fallen Angels. No, they were here to watch Diodora Astaroth carefully, ensuring he did not interfere with them.

Issei came into contact with Asia as expected, eventually leading the group into an assault on the abandoned church, the base of the Fallen Angels to rescue her. The difference was that this time, the Peerage was able to arrive in time to prevent Asia's death due to their greater strength.

[There goes the Koneko arc. How will Issei get Koneko in his harem now?]

It was surprising to see Koneko using elements of Senjutsu in her battles, though she was still uneasy and skittish about it. She was, however, the only one to have made a qualitative improvement. Though Kiba, Akeno, and Rias had a certain surety in their steps then before, there weren't a great difference from how

they were like before.

Even though the situation was different, Asia still chose to be reincarnated into the Gremory Peerage, likely because of Issei. They were thankful that Diodora did not take any further action, leaving the area the moment Asia was reincarnated by Rias.

[That harem bastard still works his magic even when circumstances change… Stay away from him, Aster!]

She transmitted all the information to Sona, who considered the news thoughtfully. "I see… the Boosted Gear and Twilight Healing. The Gremory Peerage certainly took a big step forward in terms of potential. Still, both of them have their critical weaknesses at the moment, and is not a big concern in the short term. Koneko on the other hand, will be entering a period of explosive growth. She will be the most dangerous member of the Peerage, rivalling even Akeno."

"As for Diodora… perhaps he too had heard of the Sacred Gear Twilight Healing Asia possessed, and came looking to reincarnate her into his Peerage. Well, it doesn't matter."

"Kaichou! So what do we do now?" Saji asked.

"Now? We continue as we always did. There will be no change."

* * *

[Left!] Ikari shouted.

Aster followed his command without any hesitation. Magic bullets flew through the air, narrowly missing Aster. She continued running towards Kuoh Academy, before coming to a sudden stop.

"We've finally caught up to you. You've given us a lot of trouble, you shitty mongrel." Three hooded figures appeared right behind her.

"We've investigated the range of your aura sense, and set up the trap from outside that range. This area is covered with a barrier. There's no way you can escape. Submit and we will make your capture comfortable. Resist and…" The second figure intoned ominously.

"Uhehehehehe! There's only so many types of torture we can do for such a young and pretty girl! The higher ups only need you alive after all! Uhehehehe!" The third figure cackled, saliva dripping out of his mouth.

It was merely three weeks after the conflict between the Gremory Peerage and the Fallen Angels. Aster originally expected to have a period of peace and quiet up until the Excaliburs were stolen, but it seemed not to be. While the Gremory Peerage took an absence of leave to prepare for the upcoming Rating Game with Raiser, it seemed that the Sitri Peerage would have to repel an offensive from Hexannacht.

[Sona should have been alerted. The chakra imprint we left on her should have faded away the moment we lost connection to the outside. Let's hope we don't need to rely on their assistance. Because if that's the case… the situation would be terrible indeed.]

"If you're expecting assistance from the Sitri Peerage, then you can forget it! They are currently pinned down in Kuoh Academy. You didn't think that we wouldn't know about you seeking asylum from them? Shitty Devils!"

[They are sure to have countermeasures against our usual tricks. Let's use Yin Yang Fusion and force them out!]

White and black lines ran through her body, and she burst forward, unleashing a punch with her full force behind it.

_Crackle. Crack. Crick._

A barrier shimmered into existence in front of the magicians, sporting extensive cracking and damage. The cracks visibly faded away, the barrier quickly returning to its pristine condition.

[This barrier is strong! Only with our Gates can we break past it, while our ranged attacks won't work on it!]

"We were warned about your surprise attacks, you fool! Now stay still and be captured!" The first magician gloated in glee as he waved his hands in a rhythmic manner.

A magic circle beneath the barrier glowed into existence, and chains rocketed out. They flew through the air agilely and skillfully, clearly under the magician's control

Pushing off the barrier, Aster leapt back and weaved between the chains, avoiding them with some difficulty.

[The chains are doing something weird to the ambient chakra. Do your best not to touch them. I wouldn't be surprised if they are capable of suppressing chakra!]

"It's not over yet! We have counters for your speed too! Uhehehehehe!" The third magician cried out.

"Earth Magic. Liquidification!"

"Water Magic. Hydration!"

The two of them placed their hands to the ground. Two magic circles, one brown and one blue, appeared.

As Aster landed on the ground, she found her feet slowly sinking into the dirt of the park.

[They are subverting the environment. On such a massive scale, its progress is slow, but the consistency of the ground will soon turn into one like water within half an hour. Even if we utilise demonic power to solidify our foothold, we will run out of power long before the fight is over. And our flight doesn't have the speed required to dodge the chains!]

It was a pity, but Aster knew that she wasn't particularly gifted in the art of demonic powers. In fact, she could only be said to be on Ruruko's level. And chakra in this world simply did not grant water-walking abilities.

[It's too bad the Life Tree isn't ready for combat yet. Otherwise we can grow them en masse and solidify the ground. Or use it to tie down the chains…]

[Doesn't matter.]

"Three of you. Absolute idiots."

"What was that?!"

"What did you say you shitty Devil?!"

"Stop acting so reluctant! Uhehehehe!"

"Don't. Understimate. Me!"

Aster expelled chakra from her body, gathering an amalgamation of chakra and forming it into a perfect replication of her appearance. It was the furthest they could take the idea of clones, as each of them required over 60% of her total chakra capacity. While it would have the same speed, it would have to be manually controlled and is incomparably weak. Super dense chakra simply wasn't dense enough to do much damage, and was only good for a distraction.

Even so, it completely threw off the chain wielding magician. As Aster intermingled with the clone in high speeds, the magician had no idea which was the real one, opting to target both at the same time. This however, led to openings.

[We have to end this fast. Once the ground gets too soft to be traversed, we will lose. This is the moment!]

Aster's eyes flashed, as she and the clone approached the magicians with ease.

"Damn it! Now that it came to this…!"

The magic circle he was using to control the chains began to revolve. The chains, using their point of origin as a focus, began to revolve at high speeds, lashing out indiscriminately. The magicians moved themselves together with the barrier out of reach of the chains, remaining safe from its rampage.

[We aren't fast enough to avoid it! The ground is already too soft for high speed movement! Sacrifice the clone!]

Aster quickly brought the clone towards herself and leapt off of it, the force of the jump dispersing the clone instantly. Quickly bypassing the chains, she focused her mind.

[First Gate, Gate of Opening! Second Gate, Gate of Rest! Open!]

The black and white lines on her body arced and branched out. Ambient chakra stopped for a moment, before revolving towards her violently.

She pulled back her fist. White and black chakra revolved around it in an increasingly dense manner. As she approached the barrier, her fist rocketed out, smashing straight into the barrier.

[Yin Yang Smash!]

_Crinkle. Crackle. Shatter._

The barrier crumbled instantly under her full force blow. As Aster drew closer to the magicians, she lashed out with her black chakra, attempting to douse them liberally in it.

A silvery light flashed through the air, cutting through the black chakra wave.

"It is distasteful, but I have an obligation to bring back these three magicians alive." A bespectacled blonde man stood in front of the trio, a yellow and blue blade extended in front of him. A holy aura pulsed off of him, causing Aster to feel a degree of dread and wariness.

"Caliburn… Arthur Pendragon?"

"Indeed. It was originally our intention to ask you to join our faction, but now that you have already become a Devil, the option is no longer open to us."

"As such, it changed into an exercise for me to see Hexennacht in its 'glory'. A pity that it only made me more disgusted with them. Even so, it is my assignment to bring them back alive. The three of you, time is tight. We are going."

"What! Arthur Pendragon, we don't answer to you!"

"We can still capture her! We must! Otherwise our leader will…!"

"I want to continue playing with her! Make her scream, make her beg!"

He shook his head in disgust. "Sona Sitri and her Peerage have already captured the rest of your team. Even now, they are unravelling the barrier surrounding this area. Look at the sky, it's already flickering."

Black miasma began to ooze out of Aster's form, even as her expression remained neutral. Her murderous aura was palpable, Aster barely capable of restraining herself. Arthur Pendragon tensed, watching her warily.

[Ikari?]

[Let them go. Killing them here won't help us in our revenge. In fact, it might even hinder it, as we will alienate one of the stronger people who will eventually convert to our side.]

[We didn't reveal our familiars or the Third Gate, which means they gained no new information from this fight. The only thing they figured out was that we are now in Sona's Peerage, which isn't hard to find out. If we force the fight, we have to use everything we have, and even then it's not guaranteed we can kill them here. What IS guaranteed however, is that a few of us will die. Not you, not Sona, but the rest? They are easy targets.]

Aster gritted her teeth. Even though her first family's murderers and torturers were right there…! She took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. The black miasma receded slowly. At her response, Arthur Pendragon relaxed. "Let's go!"

The four of them quickly backed away, escaping from the barrier. A moment later, the barrier collapsed.

"Aster-chan! Are you alright?" Momo cried out, landing beside her.

Landing beside her, Tomoe shivered in disgust. "Uwa, this is disgusting. My feet are sinking into the sludge! I'm staying in the sky!"

She then took off, maintaining a few metres off the ground. The rest of the Sitri Peerage followed her example, even as they looked around at the devastation.

Ruruko was the most obvious of them all, goggling over the damage. "Even though they said Aster-chan was the strongest…! Unbelievable!"

"I'm glad you are fine, Aster-chan." Sona flew over, hovering in the air beside her. She looked down at the scattered chains, approaching them in curiosity. "This is…?"

"Chains. Restricts Senjutsu. Managed to avoid." Aster answered, as she released both the Eight Gates and the Yin Yang Fusion. She stumbled, gasping slightly at the exertion. Momo instantly took one of her arms to support her, which she accepted gratefully. Even though she could walk on her own, she enjoyed the reassuring feeling of leaning against one of her sisters.

"Hoh? I see… These can be useful." Sona's eyes gleamed as she eyed them with interest.

Saji quickly bent down and started picking up the chains. When he was done, he stood to attention. "Kaichou! The chains have been collected!"

She nodded her head, and turned to the rest of the Peerage. "We will conduct a debrief back at the Student Council Room. I will inform my family of this matter, and they will clean up the damage."

"Hai Kaichou!"

* * *

"Right. We will start a rundown of the events. Before 8.30am, a love letter was dropped off in Aster-chan's locker, requesting to meet her at 3.30pm after school. As we continued with our Student Council activities, Aster-chan left at 3.25pm to meet her mysterious admirer." Sona listed on the whiteboard.

The other members broke out into giggles, and she turned red as a cherry. She quickly looked away from the rest of the Peerage and pouted. "Mean!"

Sona chuckled briefly, before continuing seriously. "At 3.27pm, 7 stray magicians appeared, continuously bombarding the school with magical projectiles. All of which were detected by Reya beforehand, and blocked by Momo. As a result, the school was completely undamaged, and there were no casualties. Both of you did well."

Sona's Peerage cheered, congratulating the two Bishops.

"Meanwhile, the rest of the Peerage moved out to defeat the stray magicians. Tsubasa stayed with Reya and Momo at the rooftops to protect them, with Reya continuing to monitor the magicians, and Momo ready to protect the school. I assigned Tomoe and Tsubaki to act as our high speed team, instructing them to defeat 3 of the stray magicians in quick succession, while Saji and Ruruko teamed up to face one. I would handle the remaining 3."

"However, after I, Tomoe and Tsubaki have defeated the first magician we met for a total of 2, the remaining magicians withdrew and organised a coordinated attack on Tsubasa, Reya and Momo. We then implemented our second plan. Tsubasa weathered the assault with Reya's and Momo's assistance, while the rest of us maneuvered ourselves into a position to take them down in one swoop."

"At 3.34pm, all 7 stray magicians were defeated and restrained. We then set out to dispel the barrier that had formed in the park." Sona finished.

Aster stood up and took up the marker. She began to write. "At 3.26pm, I arrived at the park, prepared to gently let down my admirer. I was quickly attacked by three magicians, and I opted to escape and regroup with the rest of you. Unfortunately, a barrier had formed over the area, which forced me to confront them head on. At 3.36pm, I defeated the trio, but was unable to capture or kill them due to interference from Arthur Pendragon."

Sona tensed at the name. "Arthur Pendragon? The wielder of the holy sword Caliburn? The Strongest Holy Sword Wielder?"

Aster nodded her head. "He said he was originally here to recruit me for his faction, but did not do so as I had already reincarnated into a Devil. At that time, the barrier was already unravelling, and Arthur Pendragon opted to withdraw with the magicians. I chose not to continue the conflict due to a lack of surety in the outcome, as Caliburn was too strong for us to fight without suffering any casualties."

Sona exhaled. "I'll have to send this information up to my family. Still, we won't be able to do much aside from defending ourselves. The enemy is too elusive for us to find on our own."

Saji looked around at our sombre faces, before shouting out loud. "Don't look so upset! We won in this battle! So what if we can't attack them on our own? Everytime they come, we'll just beat them hard enough they cry as they run away! Until they get the message that THEY ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!"

Sona smiled. "That's right. The more they attack us, the more they expose themselves. There will come a time when they can no longer hide anywhere, and we will defeat them."

She clapped her hands. "Now, let's proceed with our duties!"

"Hai!"

"Hai Kaichou!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> And that's chapter 5! I skimmed over volume 1 and 2 since Sona's Peerage isn't involved in them. I didn't want to make it too boring a chapter, so I included a battle with Hexennacht. Hope you liked the battle!
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you guys next time.


	6. Life and Death!

It was 6 weeks of peace and quiet. Aster continued to spend the days in bliss, working with her new family on their duties during the day, and carrying out contracts at night.

Rias had successfully broken her engagement with Raiser two weeks ago. Despite the motivation the Sitri Peerage provided them, it seemed that Raiser and Yubelluna proved far too overwhelming for the Gremory Peerage.

At the time, Sona had said that the Gremory Peerage stood no chance of winning after watching the recording. With Koneko's increased strength, the members of the Gremory Peerage defeated most of Raiser's Peerage, only losing both Akeno and Kiba to Yubelluna.

Afterwards, Raiser proceeded to fight all of them at the same time, destroying them with his obscene regeneration and firepower. Rias' only hope of victory came too late, when Issei discovered his secondary talent, Transfer with only the two of them remaining. Despite using it on her, Rias was too exhausted to use the boost in a decisive manner, resulting in their defeat. This then led to a similar scene in the banquet where Issei sacrificed his arm to achieve Balance Breaker, successfully defeating Raiser with holy water.

The only break in peace and quiet was when Sona brought them over to the ORC, as Rias wanted to introduce her new Pieces to the Sitri Peerage.

"Oooh, the same year as me and also the same Pawn as me!" Issei cried out.

"Actually, you damaged my pride quite badly. For you, one of the three perverts to be the same Pawn as me…" Saji sighed.

The two of them continued to bicker as Sona and Rias sighed in unison. Aster continued smiling mischievously at the scene.

"Saji, stop it."

"Kaichou…?"

"The reason we are here is to introduce our new servants to each other, just like we did before for you. It's so that Hyoudou-kun and Asia-san can recognise us, and for Ruruko to familiarise herself with them to prevent any unintentional conflicts amongst us. Have you forgotten?" Sona said primly.

"Besides, Hyoudou-kun consumed 8 Pawns you know? He was the one who defeated Raiser."

Upon hearing Sona's words, Saji snapped back to face Issei, looking at him warily. "8 Pawns? So you have the same value as Aster-chan? If that's the case…"

He narrowed his eyes. "Even so, I won't lose. Hyoudou Issei."

Rias raised her hand to her mouth, laughing softly. "Sona, your new Devils sure gained a strong aura in such a short time. I'm impressed.

"Saji, stop trying to start a fight with Hyoudou-kun. Hyoudou-kun, Asia-san, I'm sorry. Please get along with my newest servants, Saji, Ruruko and Aster-chan." Sona sighed.

Saji and Ruruko moved forward to shake their hands first, followed by Aster. As Aster shook Issei's hand, he exclaimed in excitement. "Wow! You have the same value as me? What's your Sacred Gear?"

As he peered lustfully at Aster's body, Saji cut in between them, staring at him straight in the eye. "Not everybody is born blessed, Hyoudou-kun. Aster-chan was born a regular human. Her value of 8 was something she obtained after fighting desperately and sacrificing much over the years."

"Eh…?" Issei took a step back in shock at the intense atmosphere Saji was emitting.

"Saji! Stop it!"

"Issei, come over here."

"I'm sorry, Sona. It seemed my Pawn had stepped on a landmine." Rias strode to the front, bowing.

"I'm sorry too, Rias. Saji was out of line. We'll take our leave then." She apologised, returning the bow.

As they walked out of the ORC, Saji could not repress his anger any further. "I cannot accept it Kaichou! Hyoudou-kun without any effort, just because he was born with the Boosted Gear, he started off at such a level! When Aster-chan had to fight through so much hardships! I was prepared to make nice with him, even being comrades, but his behaviour, his actions, made me really angry!"

"I understand your vexation, but you are my servant. I will not have you throw away basic manners and decency! There are better ways to express your displeasure." Sona exhaled.

Aster with a worried look on her face, reached up and grasped Saji's shirt. Swiftly writing down a message, she showed it to Saji as he turned around.

"Life is never fair. The only thing you can do is to roll with the punches."

After reading the message, he sagged in resignation. "I suppose you are right. It's just that... Never mind. I'll apologise the next time I see him."

"That is good, Saji. However, don't think you can escape your punishment. For one week, I'll have you scrub the toilets in Kuoh Academy."

"Kaichou! Nooooooooooo!"

* * *

Issei glanced down at his hand. [Ddraig… What was that?]

[That was the power of life and death, both in one body. I never thought something like this could happen. Furthermore, that chakra level is impressive for her age. She is likely to be the strongest here, even stronger than that of the Gremory or Sitri girl.]

He turned and looked up at Rias. "Buchou… did I say something wrong?"

She sighed. "I don't know all the details, but what I know is that… Aster-chan's family, the entire town she lived in, was wiped out by her pursuers, and even now they are still chasing after her. Just two weeks ago, they attacked the Sitri Peerage here when we were training for our Rating Game."

He looked down at his dragonified hand, the symbol of his weakness. "Is it true that she was born a normal girl? If even a normal girl could reach such heights…"

His eyes firmed up. "Then I can't fall behind! I have Buchou! I have the Boosted Gear! I'll become the strongest [Pawn] that ever lived!"

* * *

[And so it starts. Our first life and death experience since coming to Kuoh.] Ikari muttered.

Aster knew the moment she sensed traces of holy swords in Kuoh Academy, that Xenovia Quarta and Irina Shidou were here. Getting up from her seat, she moved towards Sona.

"That is indeed worrying. For matters such as this, Rias should be informing me as well. Ah, here it is."

Sona reached up with a hand as a bat, Rias' familiar, landed on it. She took the scroll from the bat and sent it off. Unravelling the scroll, she began to read it.

"Kokabiel… This isn't good." Sona raised a finger to her chin.

"Kaichou? Who is Kokabiel?" Ruruko asked.

"Kokabiel, the Star of God. He was an Angel from 5th Heaven before he fell, one of the strongest Angels in existence at that time. Afterwards, he became one of the leaders of the Grigori. Even back during the Great War, he was already in the Ultimate Class. Now, he would be one of the stronger beings among the Ultimate Class."

Tsubaki with an apprehensive look on her face, began. "If he gets involved, the only way of surviving would be for us to call for one of the Satans. And only Serafall-sama and Sirzechs-sama would be invested in protecting us. Kaichou, what should we do?"

"We will not be contacting them."

"Kaichou?!"

"What do you mean, Kaichou?"

"If either Rias or I contacted Sirzechs and my Onee-sama with this news, the Great War will restart immediately. Besides, that is assuming that Kokabiel is participating personally in this operation."

"For all we know, despite ordering the mission, he could be halfway across the world, enjoying his breakfast! We would have restarted the Great War for nothing! If things come down to it, I will not play around with our lives and will definitely inform them. But I will not do so without confirmation of Kokabiel's personal involvement. In any case, they should only take an hour to reach Kuoh."

Both Tsubaki and Aster looked at Sona worryingly, but said nothing.

Her words clearly calmed the hearts of the rest of the Peerage. Knowing that two Satans were just an hour away did wonders for their mood.

[Half an hour is already sufficient for Kokabiel to destroy the whole of Kuoh, let alone one full hour.] Ikari muttered.

[Sona knows. But, no choice. Great War, too dangerous. Is enemy's goal.] Aster replied.

[I know that. It irks me that both Satans are such idiots to the point that they aren't trusted by their siblings. This means the easy way out is gone, leaving only two methods remaining. Both of which are either unreliable or terrible options.]

"For now, we will reinforce the barriers around the school. Activate protocols for Security Red. Even if Kokabiel isn't here, the underlings who wield the Excalibur fragments can be a tough foe. Stay vigilant!"

"Hai Kaichou!"

* * *

Security Red meant that all the defensive functions of Kuoh Academy had to be checked and repaired. Furthermore, more defences had to be erected for the short term, which began to drain their store of magical energy. Finally, they set up a great magical formation, which the Sitri Peerage could take control of and boost their defenses to astronomical heights.

As Aster and Sona walked home, she asked quietly. "Sona-chan. Alright?"

Sona clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "I am. Just the thought of Kokabiel in this town terrifies me. I'm doing everything I can short of starting the Great War. But… I don't feel that it's enough!"

Aster reached out and grasped Sona's hand tightly. "Don't be. Can win. Even against Kokabiel."

She took in a shuddering breath, and composed herself. "Alright. We'll be fine. I'll believe in this with my entire being, and will continue to do everything I can."

Even so, Sona continued holding on to Aster's hand as they walked home.

* * *

The battle between Kiba, Issei, Saji, Koneko and the enemy, Freed Sellzen and Valper Galilei occurred a few days later. Even though Sona was not one for truly harsh punishments, she still took out her nervousness and anxiety on Saji, punishing him with a 1000 spanks. Rias followed suit and conducted the same punishment for Issei as well.

Though Saji and Issei started off on the wrong foot, it seemed that they had built a camaraderie after the experience. The mood eased slightly at their antics, though it didn't last long.

[Tonight is the night.]

[Yes.]

* * *

When Rias' familiar flew into Sona's room, Aster knew the time had come. The Student Council quickly gathered outside Kuoh Academy at Rias' behest, starting up the grand formation.

"The Student Council vow, on the name of Sitri, to maintain the barriers no matter what happens." Sona said solemnly.

"Then we will head inside to draw Kokabiel's attention, and buy time for both my brother and Serafall-sama to arrive. My servants, this is a battle of life and death, unlike the battle against Raiser! We will survive, and continue to attend this school!"

"Hai Buchou!"

Aster looked towards Sona, and grasped hold of her hand. "Sona-chan. Let me go."

Her eyes widened. "Aster-chan…! You can't mean…!"

"Remember, promise." Aster looked at her seriously.

Closing her eyes in resignation, she reopened them and stared at her intensely. "Swear to me, that you will live. Swear!"

"I, Aster Nilsen, swear. To return, to Sitri Peerage, alive."

"... Then go! We believe in you!"

"Rias! Bring Aster-chan along. The 8 of us can hold the barriers. She will be of more help with you guys."

[Aster, are you sure? There is still Vali.] Ikari asked.

[Too unreliable. Not guaranteed. From the start, only one option.]

Aster took off, following behind the Gremory Peerage.

"Kaichou…"

"She will return alive, I believe it! In return, we will hold this barrier with everything we have!"

* * *

As they entered the school grounds, the first thing they saw was the four Excalibur swords floating in the air. Valper Galilei, stood in the centre, holding a magic circle that encompassed him and the swords.

"What is this…?" Issei muttered in doubt.

Turning to them, Valper raised his hands to the sky, laughing madly. "So you are here! You are fortunate to witness this ritual, where I will combine the four Excalibur fragments into one! Watch, and revel in awe!"

Meanwhile, Kokabiel sat on a chair in the air, looking down at Aster and the Gremory Peerage with amusement on his face. It was as though they were mere entertainment to him.

"Finally, you arrive… while Valper does his ritual, I want to see the level you are at. Enjoy my present from the Underworld! Amuse me!"

A magic circle glowed on the ground and a three-headed dog stepping out of it.

"A Cerberus… The guard dog from the Underworld. Be careful everyone!" Rias commanded.

At her signal, the Gremory Peerage engaged it, fighting it on even ground with impressive teamwork. While they were occupied with it, a second Cerberus stepped through, targeting Issei and Asia who was in the back.

Aster stepped forward, blocking its charge. She continued to conserve her energy as she delayed it, waiting for Xenovia's arrival.

When Xenovia appeared, one thrust with her Excalibur Destruction was all it took to kill the Cerberus, while the first Cerberus was killed by Rias and Akeno with the power of Transfer and Kiba's assistance. With the power of the Boosted Gear still powering her attacks, Rias fired off a massive globe of Destruction at Kokabiel, who stopped it easily.

[This is necessary. Without that attack, Kokabiel would likely not allow Issei to build up his boosts later on as entertainment. Now it's time to handle Freed Sellzen and Valper Galilei!] Ikari murmured grimly.

The four Excalibur swords quickly merged into one, which Freed Sellzen grabbed on to. Turning around, he faced both Xenovia and Kiba, who were directing their murderous aura at him.

Valper Galilei cackled. "Now that the Excalibur fragments have been combined, the spell is ready! Kuoh will collapse in 20 minutes, and the only way to stop it is to defeat Kokabiel! Freed! Take it and slaughter the Devils!"

Faced with the truth of the Holy-Sword Project, Kiba's anger and rage were sharpened and grinded into a weapon with his reunion with his first family. Staring at the newly combined Excalibur with resolve, he opened his mouth.

"... I will become a sword. I shall become the sword of Buchou and my comrades! Please respond to my feelings now! Sword Birth! Balance Breaker!" As Kiba raised his sword in front of him, it flashed, turning into one of white intermixed with black.

Kiba and Xenovia dashed forward, the first wielding the incarnation of his Balance Breaker, a holy-demonic sword, and the second having drawn Durandal. Even though Freed attempted to use the different Excalibur abilities to repel them, Kiba and Xenovia combined were too strong for him. Xenovia easily destroyed the sword, while Kiba left a crippling wound on Freed's body.

"Holy-demonic sword! How is that possible! Does that mean not only the original Satans, even God is…" Valper mumbled in shock.

Before Valper could finish his words, a spear of light flew down, impaling him on it. Kokabiel floated down with a look of composure on his face, as though he did not just slaughter his ally in cold blood. Landing on the ground, he continued. "Valper, you were remarkable. The fact that you could come to that conclusion proves it. It's a pity you have outlived your usefulness. Now Sekiryuutei! Increase your power, and transfer it to someone else."

"Damn it!" Issei started to build up the Boosts, as the Gremory Peerage stared at Kokabiel in a mix of wariness and terror. In the meantime, Kokabiel continued Valper's train of thought, explaining the death of God and the situation in Heaven. A few minutes later, Issei's gauntlet glowed.

"Buchou, it's ready!" Issei shouted.

[It's time.] Ikari said in trepidation.

Aster took in a deep breath, and turned to Rias. "Gremory-sama. Trust me?" She requested earnestly.

"Hold it. Our lives depend on this fight! Who are you and what makes you think you are stronger than Rias Gremory, a high ranked Devil!" Xenovia cut in aggressively.

Rias studied Aster critically, before closing her eyes tightly. Reopening them, she said. "Sona placed her trust in you. So will I. Don't betray it."

"Transfer it to Aster-chan, Issei." Rias continued.

As the glow of red enveloped her body, Aster inhaled. Power. That was what Aster could feel. Even as she felt her grasp of Senjutsu improve exponentially, her physical strength increasing by magnitudes, she felt in complete control. This was the Sekiryuutei, the Boosts that exponentially increases every aspect. As the boosts settled over Aster, she blinked, staring at Kokabiel calmly. To an observer, there seemed to be no change regarding her.

"Leave. Or die."

"What is this? You wasted your Boosts on such a weak person? A pity, I wanted to have a good fight before I killed…!"

_Boom!_

Aster flashed forward, lashing out with her leg. In an instant, it impacted Kokabiel's hastily crossed arms, blowing him straight through the school building and bringing it down around him.

[For those who aren't in perfect control of their power, using the Transfer on them would cause that uncontrolled part to be dispersed, resulting in a raging aura. For us, who have complete control of our strength up to the Yin Yang Fusion and the Second Gate, of course you can't tell the difference you fool!] Ikari crowed.

White and black lines glowed, arcing through her body.

"I. Won't. Let. You. Destroy. My. Home!" Aster's eyes glowed in a mix of white and black, as she burst forward with explosive speed.

"Hahahaha! This is what I'm talking about! Entertain me more, Devil!" Kokabiel laughed as he climbed out of the rubble, flying straight at Aster.

* * *

"So this is Aster-chan's strength." Issei stared in shock at the explosions.

[Watch carefully, Partner. You won't see such a high level fight anytime soon.] Ddraig responded.

"I can barely keep up with the explosions! Let alone their movements! I can't watch it even if I want to!" Issei cried out.

"Kiba, what's going on?" He turned to the Knight, who was watching solemnly.

"Even I can't see very clearly, but… Aster-chan is being beaten back. The plants she uses as her familiars seem to mitigate some of the damage, but it doesn't seem to be enough."

"... No. It's not that one-sided." Koneko responded.

"Koneko is right. The power of Senjutsu is to sever lifeforce. Even though Kokabiel looks to be in pristine condition, he is likely wounded on the inside." Rias responded.

Xenovia merely watched mutely in shock shock and amazement.

* * *

[Damn it, we are barely holding on! Our aura reading can only do so much, while his attacks penetrate even the Life Trees' defence! Both the Life Tree and Hell Thorn haven't grown enough to have the unrivalled defence and offence they are known for. We can't even use the Third Gate, or we will lose control!]

Aster vomited blood yet again as she blocked a fist from Kokabiel, using the strike to gain some distance. Black thorns shot out, piercing towards Kokabiel. As he raised a spear of light, he swung it and easily destroyed them. Green light continued to spread over her body, replacing the damaged armor she formed with the Life Tree.

[This is a battle of time! The first to collapse loses. Whether it's us from the damage we accumulate, or him who we continuously insert poison into! Aster, you must hold on!]

[... Know!]

Landing on her feet, she sank down on one knee before taking off yet again. Vines erupted from the ground, chasing after the fleeing Kokabiel. Spears of light rained down, chopping some of them down with difficulty as he weaved through the remaining ones. Even as he dodged, black thorns chased after him like homing missiles. Laughing crazily, he stopped them with a light barrier.

"This is how it should be! Even after I kill you, I'll be feeling the effects of this battle for decades to come! This is war! Hahahahahaha! Entertain me with the remaining of your life! It will be the prelude to the restart of the Great War!"

He flew straight towards the approaching Aster, exchanging brutal blows with her. Aster could barely defend herself from his strikes, but with each block, with each redirection, she continued to shear away at Kokabiel's lifeforce, and input black chakra into his body to ravage it.

"Hah!" Kokabiel bellowed.

Aster screamed in pain, a palm strike connecting with her stomach. Grabbing hold of the arm, she thrusted a black knife formed out of the Hell Thorn into Kokabiel. Roaring in agony, he sent out a heavy kick towards Aster in retaliation.

Aster had no choice but to take it head on, smashing straight into the concrete and forming a crater around herself. Hugging her stomach, she got to her feet slowly, wobbling on the spot.

[Damn it! How is the difference so huge?!]

Kokabiel landed in front of her, a triumphant look on his face. "Is that it, girl?! Is that the extent of your power, your resolve?!"

Aster spat out a tooth. "Not. Over. Yet!"

Aster burst forward, engaging Kokabiel desperately in close combat. Blades and other weaponry formed of the Life Tree and Hell Thorn flew and lay discarded, Kokabiel disarming her easily. Her eyes blurred in tiredness, as she fought to go even one step further, to damage Kokabiel even more.

"A desperate frontal attack like this… It seems that this is it for you." Kokabiel muttered, shaking his head. Reaching out with his hands, he locked down Aster's arms, before repeatedly kicking her in the stomach. Swinging her body around, he smashed her against the ground, again and again. As Kokabiel winded up his arm to throw Aster into another section of the building, his internal injuries came to the forefront, and he winced in pain.

[Now!]

[Now!]

Black chakra burst out of Kokabiel's arms, causing him to scream in pain. At that signal, all the black chakra they had input into his body stirred, starting their rampage yet again.

"Die!" Aster screamed, sending out her leg. White and black chakra swirled around it, forming into a knife-like shape, as she kicked out.

[Yin Yang Slice!]

Even in the throes of pain, Kokabiel recognised the lethal strike for what it was and jerked his head back in panic. In that instant, Aster's foot sliced through his neck. His head flopped, and blood spurted out in a geyser.

The Gremory Peerage widened their eyes, with shock, excitement, and hope. "Was Kokabiel… actually decapitated?!"

Kokabiel performed a somersault backwards, lashing out with his leg. Smashing into Aster's chest, she shrieked as she was launched backwards, landing beside them in a heap.

Grabbing hold of his flopping head, he placed it back down, sealing the laceration with light.

"Fuhahahahaha. Fuhahahahaha! An ingenious plan! The kick at the start inputted black chakra not to ravage my body, but to act as a bomb! Using it to reactivate the traces of black chakra you inserted afterwards, creating a moment of weakness! If I reacted even a bit later, my spine would have been cut through! I would be dead! Dead! Me, Kokabiel! The Star of God! Hahahahaha!" Kokabiel laughed madly, before falling to his knees, coughing out blood.

Staggering to his feet, Kokabiel began speaking ominously. "Is that all you have, girl? If that's the case, then I'll kill all of you now. Rest assured, your name will go down in history, as the one who had nearly slain me, Kokabiel! Your name will be placed alongside the likes of Vasco Strada, the former wielder of Durandal!"

[Damn it. Our body is too weak to continue the fight. Aster…!]

[Doesn't matter. Result, expected. Not. Over!]

Aster gathered herself, one knee bent on the ground, seemingly too weak to stand up properly. Looking into Kokabiel's eyes, her mouth opened. "Leave. Or die."

Kokabiel's eyes widened, and he burst out into laughter. "At this point, you are still asking that?! Of course I…!"

Rias blinked.

Her Peerage blinked.

Xenovia blinked.

"... How…" Kokabiel groaned, with rivulets of blood flowing from his mouth.

"Surpassed limits. Uncontrollable in fight. Straight charge, no problem." Aster said simply, her hand spearing through Kokabiel's chest, spearing out from his back. Black and white aura spiraled around her, raging violently.

"I see… So you used the black chakra bomb… to ensure that my body... is too weak to react to your high speed thrust… And also for me to let down my guard… believing you had nothing left…"

"... Hahaha… My heart... has been shredded. To think that I… Kokabiel… would die here…" He smiled bitterly.

"The plan to restart the Great War… was a failure. Even so… I had… a good fight…" His eyes turned glassy, and he fell limp on her arm. Aster wobbled on her feet as she pushed Kokabiel's body off her arm.

"Aster-chan!" The rest of the Devils approached hastily. Asia reached out with her hand, before beginning to use Twilight Healing. Her expression quickly turned into one of panic.

"It's too difficult to heal her! Why?! Aster-chan…!"

Struggling out of their arms, Aster spat out another globe of blood, before turning towards the gate of the school. "Show… yourself!"

"Hoh? You managed to sense me even in that state? I am impressed." A white haired figure landed in front of them.

"I was excited to fight a member of the Cadre, but this fight is fairly impressive as well. So I couldn't help but watch it to the end."

"... Hakuryuukou, Vali."

"Hakuryuukou! You are his newest host?" Issei turned towards him in shock.

"Indeed, Sekiryuutei. But I have no interest in the current you, who is so weak as to hide behind the skirts of women."

Rias stepped forward, gesticulating with her hand. "Don't pretend not to see the rest of us! What are you doing here? Are you Kokabiel's accomplice?"

Turning his gaze to the Gremory heiress, he spoke. "I was under orders from Azazel to stop Kokabiel, and bring him back. But now that he is dead, there is no meaning to it. Hmm, I will bring back Freed Sellzen instead. We can still gather information from him."

Grabbing on to Freed, his wings spread. Just as he was about to take off, a voice came from Issei's gauntlet.

[Are you ignoring me huh, white-one.]

[So you are awake, red-one.]

[We finally met, but in a situation like this…]

[Yea, it's not a situation where our hosts need to fight. I don't feel the hostility between us either, which is surprising.]

[It seems that we have other priorities, huh. Well, let's meet again like this, Albion. It wasn't bad.]

[I agree, Ddraig.]

Vali took off into the sky, before turning around. "That's right, I almost forgot."

Pointing a finger at Aster, he continued. "You, Aster was it? When you have fully recovered, let us fight with everything we have. Remember it."

With that, he flew off.

As the white and black lines running through Aster's body faded away, she swayed, falling to the side.

"Aster-chan!" Landing beside her, Sona cried out and grabbed hold of her. She then gently laid her on her lap.

The rest of her Peerage landed beside them right after. Asia was practically in tears, crying out. "She's so badly wounded! But I can't heal her! Why?!"

Sona blinked, wiping away her tears. "Her body… is likely resistant to most forms of healing. She healed herself over and over so many times with Senjutsu, that her body over-specialised for it. I doubt any other forms of healing would do much for her, even Phoenix Tears. The only thing we can do now… is to let her recover at her own pace."

Looking up at Rias and her Peerage, she continued. "I'll be bringing her back now, for her to recover. We'll do a rundown tomorrow."

"Sona…"

"Hai, Kaichou."

* * *

"If that Kokabiel touches even a hair on my sister, I'll make sure he wished he never lived!"

Two figures flew in the night sky at hypersonic speed.

"It is the same for me, Serafall. Regardless, have patience. We are almost there."

Spotting the school in the distance, the two accelerated, landing in the courtyard.

"Hmmm? What happened here? I can sense the aura of life and death very strongly. The effect is similar to the Bael's Power of Destruction, but it is fundamentally different.

"Sirzechs-chan, look at that." Serafall pointed to the body on the ground, a knowing grin spreading on her face.

"This is…? Kokabiel's corpse? Who could have killed him?"

"Onii-sama, Serafall-sama!"

"Rias? What happened here?" Sirzechs turned to his sister.

Rias composed herself, before speaking out. "Aster-chan, with Issei's Transfer, managed to kill Kokabiel."

Two pairs of eyes gleamed. "Hoh? Tell us everything."

* * *

"Kokabiel is dead? I see… I suppose his death should placate the Devils then. Our side however, will likely start clamoring for retaliation."

"Indeed, Azazel. What can we do to ensure the peace continues? Perhaps we should…"

"That is workable. By stating that the decision to exile him was already made for his past transgressions, ready to be announced… Most of the Fallen Angels should be placated, aside from Kokabiel's own supporters."

* * *

"And so, yet another one from the old days fall. Why must we continue fighting? Now that both God and the original Satans are dead, there is no further meaning to the war."

"Michael, you can't mean…?"

"Indeed. It is time for us to obtain peace. Otherwise, we are unable to withstand the other mythologies advances, as mired in internal conflict as we are. Gabriel, accompany me to Kuoh. I hope that my counterparts can see the same truth."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note:
> 
> That's it for chapter 6! I struggled with the initial parts because well, Sona and her Peerage are heavily involved in this volume. I didn't like the idea of regurgitating the information in the LNs, but then… it flows in a very weird manner if I skip it (doesn't flow at all tbh). So I tried my best to summarise and place it inside.
> 
> Power levels sucks. I pretty much threw my hands up and gave up. I simply cannot see how Vali Lucifer insta-killed Kokabiel if he had Satan class power, according to the wiki page. Even just the peak of the Ultimate Class, bordering Satans is unreasonable (ie. Grayfia level). So I downscaled Kokabiel, and made him just among the stronger beings of Ultimate Class.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed chapter 6, and I'll see you guys next time.


	7. Chapter 7: The Conference!

Three days. It took Aster three days before she finally woke up from her coma. When she awakened, it was to the concerned face of Sona, and the presence of Serafall.

"Ya hoo! Levi-tan at your service! " Serafall immediately posed with her wand. As usual, she was in her pink magical girl outfit.

"Onee-sama…" Sona sighed at her antics, before continuing. "In any case, how are you feeling, Aster-chan?"

Aster sat up groggily, and turned to the two. "Sore. Tired. Otherwise, fine."

Sona sighed in relief. "I wish we had more time for you to rest but there are some things you need to know. In four days, there will be a conference between the Three Factions, and we will be called upon to provide the rundown of Kokabiel's attack. Be prepared."

[Four days huh. That's not much time to prepare…]

"More importantly! There is the matter of your promotion to middle ranked Devil ! For the defeat of Kokabiel, I and Sirzechs managed to convince the old fogies to grant it ! Well, it helped a great deal that Kokabiel had killed quite a number of their relatives in the Great War." Serafall gestured with her wand.

"Meanwhile, So-tan! Why didn't you tell me about the school visit that's happening two days later ?! I only knew about it because I flew here!" Serafall attempted to mash her face against Sona's who was holding her at arm's length.

"It's because you are a Satan! You don't have the time for a school visit. Or rather, you shouldn't have the time! Also, I just don't want my schoolmates to see you in this… this… embarrassing costume!" Sona gritted her teeth and cried out.

As the two of them continued bickering, Aster went into deep thought.

[Upcoming conference. Might change.]

[Well, Kokabiel was killed by us instead of taken by Vali. Not sure how the politics will change. Furthermore, Khaos Brigade will take us into consideration during the assault on the school as well. Will Vali take both us and Issei on, or will they spare another member?]

[Vali, bad matchup.]

[Everybody is a bad matchup against the Hakuryuukou, aside from Issei and Rizevim. We could probably hold him off in his Balance Breaker when we use Yin Yang Fusion and open the Third Gate. The battle against Kokabiel had allowed us to gain better control over the Third Gate, which means we can use it any time we want.]

[But his Divine Dividing… Unless we go for a one hit kill, we would be easily slaughtered after one Divine Dividing. We need to find a way to counter it. I don't feel too good knowing somebody out there can counter us that easily. Well, if something really goes wrong, we can just throw Issei at him I guess. I'm totally ready to tell him Vali's Half Dimension skill!]

[Ikari. Mean!]

It wasn't long before Serafall took her leave. Even a laidback Satan like her had duties to attend to. After her departure, Sona sighed in relief.

"Well, now that my sister is gone. We need to talk about you, Aster-chan." Sona looked at her seriously.

"You drew a lot of attention with your latest stunt, Aster-chan. The Slayer of Kokabiel. That is what they are calling you right now. In the short term, this attention might be useful. Our enemies will likely take a step back and regroup, assessing your abilities and giving us respite. But for the other young Devils, you are now the target to be surpassed."

"But all of that can be handled. The problem is in the long term, when the enemy targets you. With your abilities thoroughly analyzed, the next attack will be one with the highest chance of success. And this is what I want to talk about. After this conference, it is time for you to withdraw from the spotlight."

Aster pointed at herself and nodded her head in agreement. "Decoy?"

Sona nodded her head in agreement, a smirk spreading on her face. "Indeed. You have a huge reputation, but that will work all the better for us. Even though I am irked that our enemies and challengers will likely care nothing for the rest of the Sitri Peerage, it is something we can, and will take full advantage of."

"The next matter is about your promotion to a middle ranked Devil. Killing Kokabiel does count as a war contribution, even though we are technically under ceasefire. There was even talk of promoting you to a high ranked Devil, but the detractors raised a couple of reasons. "

The first is your demonic power. It is too low even for a middle ranked Devil, let alone a high ranked one. While you undoubtedly have the strength of a high ranked Devil, it's apparently humiliating for them that it didn't come from your Devil lineage. The second, which I agreed with, is that it would paint an even bigger target on your back."

"So anyway, you can choose when to take the promotion exam. It shouldn't be much of a problem."

Aster beamed brightly. "After the conference. Not important, only a title."

Sona sighed fondly. "Well, that's really everything then. Now I have to go and convince my sister not to come to the school visit, or at the very least, wear her business clothing. More importantly… I'm glad that you are fine, Aster-chan."

Aster reached up and hugged her tightly. "Of course. Vowed."

* * *

"So you're the kid that killed Kokabiel? You hide your chakra and aura very well indeed, to the point that I could barely sense it! If I wasn't already on the lookout for you…"

A rough and dishevelled man looked at Aster from every direction, even lifting her up in the air once. Aster was already tired and fed up with his antics, but she just couldn't get away from him.

[This guy… really offends me with his actions.]

"Governor Azazel! Unhand Aster-chan at once!" Sona sprinted around the corner and advanced on him angrily.

"Maa maa! Don't be so stingy! I want to take a look at how she handles the power of life and death! It's true that I'm more interested in Sacred Gears, but it's phenomena like these that will let me be more creative with my work!" Azazel lifted Aster up and danced around Sona, while still scrutinising her intensely.

[This is disgusting. I feel violated… Especially since I'm male…!]

"Stop it right now! Or I'll ask my sister to throw you out, even if the price is to dress as a magical girl!"

In a blink of an eye, Aster was set down beside Sona, while Azazel smoothed out her uniform. "There's no need to go so far! See, Aster-chan is perfectly fine! Right, Aster-chan?"

Sona pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "What can we do for you Governor Azazel?"

He placed a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I really did want to study Aster-chan's situation, but it seems to be impossible. If you could direct me to the ORC instead? I want to see their Sacred Gears, especially the Sekiryuutei, the Sword Birth, and the Forbidden Balor View."

Sona frowned. "Forbidden Balor View… So Rias unsealed Gasper then? In any case, the ORC is that way. They have a separate building from the school at the back, so just head to the first floor and follow the main path."

A white haired figure rounded the corner with a bored expression on his face. "Azazel, the ORC is that way."

Upon seeing Aster, his expression morphed into a more neutral one. "Oh it's you. We'll have our battle soon enough. Just wait for it."

"Vali! I sense the aura of the Sekiryuutei, Durandal and a weird mix of holy and demonic aura on you. It seems to be a day old though. Did you already meet them?"

"Yea, they were quite twitchy. Even after meeting them, I still don't understand why you are so interested in them. They are so weak."

Azazel turned back to them. "Anyway, I forgot to mention this, but for the trouble Kokabiel caused, I will owe you a favour, within reason of course! I'll be going now, bye!"

Sona exhaled, turning to Aster. "A favor huh… Well anyway, he didn't do anything weird to you did he?!"

At her question, Aster shook her head.

"That's good. Let's go and find my sister next. I have to stop her from destroying my reputation, and traumatising our schoolmates!"

[Instead of being traumatised, I am sure that every male student will be extremely happy to see her instead.] Ikari muttered.

* * *

"And so, that is what happened." Rias finished.

Whispers and mutters passed through the conference room discussing the situation, even as eyes settled on Aster's form. She continued standing straight with her hands clasped in front of her with a gentle smile, unruffled by the impromptu attention.

Azazel burst out into laughter and slapped the table in glee. "The Eight Inner Gates! It's been a long time since I heard of that technique! It's the undisputed king of self-destructive techniques indeed, with every use shortening the users' lifespan! But coupled with Senjutsu…!"

Serafall was literally bouncing in her seat, beaming in pride at the praise. "I was the one who trained her! Me! Meeeee!"

At the ruckus, Michael sighed, and continued resignedly. "Regardless, it's time for the Grigori to give us their report now, isn't it, Azazel?"

His face turned serious. "Kokabiel hid his whereabouts and actions from both Shemhazai and I. Vali was dispatched to capture him, but he arrived to see Aster-chan in a battle with Kokabiel. Since they were capable of holding him off, he did not interfere, up until his death. His exile was determined and announced the same night based on his past transgressions, to placate the rest of the Grigori. The explanation and everything else can be read in the material forwarded to all of you, right? That is all."

Michael huffed in exasperation. "That is the worst explanation I have ever heard. Never mind that. Is it true that you have no wish to restart the Great War?"

Azazel sat up with an offended look on his face. "Of course not! I'm just somebody who likes to do my own research in peace. The Great War will just make me have more stuff to do."

Sirzechs frowned at his words, rubbing his chin in thought. "I just want to ask one thing. Why have you been gathering Sacred Gear users? I always thought you were building up an army to attack Hell or Heaven."

"When the Hakuryuukou joined you, I was fairly worried as well." Michael agreed.

Opening his eyes wide in exasperation, Azazel exclaimed. "It's for Sacred Gear research, of course! If you are so concerned, I'll send both Hell and Heaven some of my research."

Kicking his leg back, he leaned back on his chair and folded his arms."Che, all this suspicion. Am I the least trusted of us?"

"Of course."

"Definitely !"

"Do you still need to ask?"

At their skepticism, Azazel huffed and slapped the table in annoyance. "Bah! You're all worse then God and the previous Satans! All this talk is going nowhere! Then let's make peace. That's what we all gathered here for, right? We already exchanged gifts and all that stuff anyway. Let's get it over with."

* * *

Things continued as Aster and Ikari expected, where the higher echelons of the Three Factions continued hammering out the details of the peace treaty. When it was over, both Vali and Issei, the symbol of their treaty, was asked about their dream of the future.

[Get ready.]

Aster showed no outward reaction to his words. Even so, her senses sharpened as she pushed her aura reading to the limit. As she scanned the area, she caught sight of a group of people manhandling a blindfolded Gasper at the roof of the ORC building. She narrowed her focus, zooming in on them, only to notice one of them reach up to pull off the blindfold.

[Now!]

Chakra exploded from her body, forming a shield over both the Gremory's and Sitri's Peerage. Startled by her action, the leaders of the Three Factions turned towards her, power leaking off them and pressing down on her harshly.

Barely holding her composure in the face of their overwhelming pressure, she spoke. "Enemy attack. Gasper captured, Sacred Gear overloaded."

Azazel frowned. "Now that you say it, I did sense a hint of irregularity for a moment. Though I seemed to have shrugged it off instinctively."

"We did as well." Sirzechs spoke.

Turning his head towards the window, Michael continued. "Our armies have been stopped in time. That half vampire servant of yours truly has an impressive bloodline, Rias of the Gremory."

"Never mind that! You said Gya-suke was captured? What do you mean!" Issei cried out, grabbing on to Aster's sleeve."

"ORC building, Gasper rooftop. Now going down. 10 magicians. All female."

At her words, Sirzech smiled in amusement. "Well, our first goal is to retrieve Gasper. And from Aster-chan's words, the best choice seems to be Issei, the enemy of women.

Issei slumped to the ground in despair, his spirits crushed by Sirzechs' words. "Even Buchou's brother…"

He continued. "However, there doesn't seem to be a way for us to transfer you over there, which is a big problem."

Rias then interjected. "I have an unused Rook Piece in the ORC. I can use the Castling technique to switch places with it.

At her words, Sirzechs scrunched up his eyebrows. "It's still reckless to go alone. Grayfia, is there a way for us to transfer more than one person using the Castling technique?"

Grayfia bowed in response. "We can transfer one more person, by adding on a simple transfer formation. However, that is the limit."

"If that's the case, I'll go with Issei! Gasper is my Bishop! It's my responsibility to take him back! I'll make sure they regret targeting one of my beloved servants!" Rias exclaimed in anger.

Sona adjusted her glasses. "The rest of the Gremory, and my Peerage should begin eliminating the magicians outside, to act as a decoy. Permission to engage?"

"Go on. Have Vali join all of you. The Hakuryuukou and the Slayer of Kokabiel on the frontlines should distract them greatly." Azazel chuckled at the thought.

At his words, Vali grunted. "Well, they will at least make me feel less bored. I'll go and play with them then."

[Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!]

Now covered in white armor, Vali flew off, rampaging through the magicians with impunity. Explosions rang every few seconds, the cries of the dying magicians filling up in between.

Sona glanced at Aster, before turning to her Peerage. "We'll go with Defensive Formation Alpha. Aster-chan, cover for us. It's a valuable opportunity for the rest of us to gain combat experience. Rias, in your absence, will you allow me to take command of your group?"

"That is fine, Sona. Just make sure all of them come back safe and sound, or I'll never forgive you!"

"If that's the case, Koneko, join Tsubasa, Ruruko and Saji as our frontline. Your role will be to defend our core, as we slowly carve our way into the core of the enemy. Kiba and Xenovia, you will act together as our second high speed group. Your goal is the same as Tsubaki's and Tomoe's, to kill the magicians as fast as you can and prevent them from sieging our core group! Asia-san, Akeno-san, stay within the core group. Akeno will join us in providing firepower, while I will direct your healing when needed! If that is understood, let's go!"

"Hai, Kaichou!"

* * *

Azazel looked out with interest. "Maa, look at them go! I originally thought Aster-chan was the only noteworthy person on the Sitri Peerage, but the rest aren't bad either! They aren't particularly spectacular on their own, but together, they are like a well-oiled machine. Especially that little sister of yours, Sera-chan! She's brilliant, incorporating the remnants of the Gremory Peerage into hers so seamlessly, and directing the entire battle like a chess master!"

Serafall preened with pride. "This is my sister after all! I'm just here to watch and cheer her on ! If So-tan wasn't here, I wouldn't bother participating in this stuffy conference !"

Sirzechs chuckled at her expression. "That is true. Incorporating Koneko into the frontline was a good decision. Despite being unfamiliar with the others, her aura reading allows her to easily anticipate their movements. As for Yuuto and Xenovia, she used them as a standalone team, confident in their teamwork and ability. Akeno's firepower was also used well, single handedly preventing the magicians from circling back and surrounding them."

A water dragon roared out, lightning running down its side as white flakes slowly dispersed through it. Rotating like a vortex, it ran through a mass of magicians, shredding them into a sand-like substance. As it slaughtered the magicians with impunity, its bright blue color slowly turned blood red.

Azazel guffawed. "Their firepower isn't bad either! It's not far behind your sister's Peerage, Sirzechs! Despite it being said to be more of a strategic type Peerage! Look at Aster-chan! She's pretty much dozing off at having nothing to do!"

Issei and Rias watched their rampage, shock evident on their faces. Rias mumbled. "The Sona I know… would never think of using overwhelming firepower like that… She was always the type to use counters instead…!"

Azazel laughed and clapped a hand on her head. "When you have the advantage, there's no need for complicated tricks! Just crush the enemy head on! Knowing when to use tactics and when to go for the simplest option is the hardest part of being a strategist! That girl has a bright future!"

Michael sighed at the two of them. "Stop watching. The kids aren't entertainment! Besides, don't you think this attack was suspiciously competent in terms of timing and execution? I believe we have a traitor in our midst."

"Well, the barrier is erected by us, so we can't move carelessly. I guess we can just wait then! They are sure to become impatient and will show themselves soon. Oi, Sekiryuutei, Ojou-chan, get going! Otherwise they will use the Forbidden Balor View again!"

Cutting in at this time, Sirzechs spoke. "Azazel, you have been researching Sacred Gears for some time, right? Especially on controlling it for a fixed time. Do you have something for Issei, as a backup?"

At his words, Azazel fell silent. Reaching up into his shirt pocket, he took out two rings, and tossed them to Issei. "Oi Sekiryuutei! Give one to the kid with the Forbidden Balor View. It will help him with controlling his Sacred Gear. As for the other one, it will allow you to use Balance Breaker without any price!"

"My name is Hyoudou Issei! And seriously?!" He cried out in excitement.

"Then Hyoudou Issei! Use that ring as a last resort! It will break your temporary seal on your Pieces, which might have consequences. Unlike Aster-chan who is in total control of her power, you can only draw out a small margin of Ddraig's strength. You will eventually die if you can't master Ddraig's power, so don't use it if you can! Now shoo!"

Sirzechs looked towards Grayfia. "If you will, Grayfia?"

"Hai." She bowed.

As she prepared the magic circle for Issei and Rias, Sirzechs turned back. "Continuing our conversation, you've been collecting Sacred Gear owners right? Even Longinus users. What are they for?"

Azazel turned serious. "It's to prepare for war."

Michael glared at him. "Azazel… you…!"

Raising up a hand, he continued. "Don't misunderstand. It's not with either of you, or the other mythologies either. We are preparing for battle with an organisation known as the Khaos Brigade. They are terrorists with strong members from all Three Factions. Recently, I heard they have a number of Longinus users among them, and even Caliburn's wielder."

Serafall narrowed her eyes. "Then they are…!"

Azazel nodded his head gravely. "Yes. They apparently have connections to strong magician organisations, like Hexennacht. We obtained some of the information because of your early warning, Serafall."

He continued. "Anyway, they are terrorists, their sole goal being destruction and mayhem. Just that wouldn't be enough to worry me, but their leader… She gives me a sense of dread."

Michael looked on gravely. "Who is their leader?"

Azazel grimaced. "The Infinity Dragon, Ophis."

Sirzechs expression grew cold. "The strongest being across all realms. That is… worrying."

"Ophis is indeed the leader of the Khaos Brigade. It was wise of you to be cautious. "A magic circle glowed on the floor, the origin of the voice.

"So you've finally come. The mastermind." Narrowing his eyes, Sirzechs rested his chin on his laced fingers, staring at the magic circle.

"Grayfia, send Issei and Rias away immediately." He continued steadily.

"Hai, Sirzechs-sama. Ojou-sama. Issei-kun. The magic circle is ready. Stand inside and prepare yourself for combat!"

Both Issei and Rias hurriedly stood inside the circle. As the magic circle glowed, Grayfia looked up at them. "I wish the both of you luck!"

As Issei and Rias disappeared, the magic circle on the floor formed fully. While Michael's expression remained neutral, Azazel began to guffaw. Instead, Sirzechs had a sour expression on his face.

* * *

_**Boom!** _

An explosion far larger and greater than the one Vali rained down burst out from the conference room. Two figures flashed out, beginning a massive battle in the skies of the school.

[So Katerea Leviathan of the Old Satan Faction, has appeared. There doesn't seem to be too much of a change from what we expected. Is it because Vali is confident in facing down us and Issei at the same time? I suppose with Juggernaut Drive hidden up his sleeve, he does have the right to be confident.]

"Reya! Tell everybody to stop gawking! Otherwise they are going to suffer for it!" Sona barked out in agitation, even as the water dragon swirled to form a barrier over the distracted group.

"Hai Kaichou!" Reya began to use her communication magic, transmitting the message to the members of the group.

As the battle raged on, Sona's Peerage and the remaining members of Rias' Peerage began to show signs of exhaustion, slowing down in their killing speed. Seeing their deteriorating condition, Sona quickly made the decision for a tactical retreat.

Aster meanwhile was employing her aura reading to the limit, observing Vali intensely. As Azazel sent down a light spear, intending to sever Katerea's head, Aster sensed a spike of killing intent.

_Flash._

_Flash._

A scream reverberated through the air.

"So you managed to read my intentions, as expected of a Senjutsu user. From the brightness and number of the glowing lines, I suppose this is the Third Gate then? You seem to have surprisingly great control over it, have your control improved due to the fight with Kokabiel?"

Lines of white and black covered every inch of Aster's body, some of which were slowly leaking out in wisps, as she stood in midair facing Vali's Balance Breaker form. Her green gauntlet rested against Vali's hand, stopping his strike. Pushing against each other, the two flew backwards, putting distance between them.

 _Crash!_ Katerea's arm fell to the ground, blood spurting out of the wound. Grimacing in pain, she sealed it with demonic energy, floating next to Vali.

"The killing intent made me react instinctively, causing my strike to miss. Still, thanks for the save, Aster-chan!"

Turning to Vali, Azazel continued. "So you're betraying me under these circumstances huh, Vali. I would ask why, but now that I think about it, I already know the answer."

"Indeed. I just want to fight eternally. And you, the advocate of peace, will definitely not allow it. Hence, I joined the Khaos Brigade."

Katerea suddenly turned to the ORC building, and cut in. "I feel such vulgar eyes. Is that the current Sekiryuutei? Even though I lost an arm and am bleeding out… What a pathetic host. Vali, will you kill him?"

Vali turned to Issei, and started a conversation with him. In the meantime, Katerea took out a vial containing a small snake and brought it to her mouth. As she swallowed it, her aura suddenly skyrocketed, turning to face Azazel in triumph.

"Even without my arm, I can still kill you!" She roared and burst forward.

"That snake! Ophis' power? Well, it's fine. I can use this chance to test out my newest creation!"

Azazel took out a dagger and held it before him. "You are lucky to be the first to witness my Artificial Sacred Gear, Downfall Dragon Spear, and its Balance Breaker, Downfall Dragon Another Armor!"

"Azazel! You…! You are capable of producing Sacred Gears?!" Katerea screamed in fury.

Gold armor formed over Azazel's form. "Heh, there are many things you wouldn't know."

Turning to Vali, he continued. "Vali, I would like to be your opponent as well. But you'll have to make do with the two of them."

After finishing, he flashed forward, taking Katerea head on. She screamed in fury as a bluish-black aura covered her body. It was however, of no use. With the Balance Breaker, Azazel easily overpowered her, swinging his spear at her over and over, creating deep gorges with every slash.

She vomited blood upon withstanding the attacks. Despite that, she still stretched out her arm to block the downward strike, despite being overpowered. With a triumphant grin on her face, she grabbed the spear tightly.

"I got you!" She screeched in excitement.

The arm seemed to liquify, snaking out towards Azazel in a sudden and swift movement. At this change, Aster reacted instantly, tossing out a black knife, embedding it into her arm and pinning it to the ground. She shrieked in pain, turning to Aster with madness in her eyes. "Damn you…! Damn you! Even when I wanted to sacrifice myself to kill Azazel…!"

Azazel glanced down at the pinned arm, narrowing his eyes. "This is a self-destructive technique that links both our bodies together, and activates a killing magic on both parties. Even if the caster died, the killing magic will still be carried out…"

Looking at Aster, he continued. "I seem to be owing you a lot of favors these days, girl."

Summoning a spear of light, he thrusted it into Katerea's chest indifferently, killing her instantly. "I have no mercy for somebody like you. After all, I did not gain my reputation by simply sitting back and doing experiments. Farewell, Katerea."

With the end of the battle, Azazel's golden armor shattered, only leaving behind a jewel. He shook his head, picking it up fondly and placed it in his pocket. "Well, my Downfall Dragon Spear was always incomplete. It doesn't matter though. As long as I have the jewel and the contracted Fafnir, I can remake it over and over again."

Turning to face Aster, he continued. "I don't believe Vali will be too much for the two of you, so I won't interrupt your battle. Remember, I now owe you three favors. Hahahahahaha!"

Spreading his wings, he took off, returning back to the conference room.

"I wanted to fight Azazel as well… But it's fine. I told you didn't I, Aster. That we would have a battle the next time we meet. But the more I look at you, the more disappointed I get. You seem to be reaching the limit of your potential. Your time of high speed growth was over long ago."

[... He isn't wrong. We aren't talented in using demonic power, and as a reincarnated Devil with a human as its base, we don't possess great affinity with Senjutsu. Our only long term technique is the Eight Gates, which might be powerful. But, from the Fourth Gate onwards, it is not only impossible to maintain perfect control, each Gate will also take months, perhaps years to open. Basically, we've peaked.]

Looking towards Issei, Vali continued. "As for you, Sekiryuutei. You are weak, so weak its laughable. I, the Hakuryuukou, with a Satan's bloodline, am the most talented of all past possessors' of Albion. While you, the Sekiryuutei, just a normal human, am the weakest of them all. How cruel fate is, don't you think? Creating the weakest Sekiryuutei and the strongest Hakuryuukou in the same generation?"

His eyes gleamed. "I learned about you. Ordinary. Everything about you is ordinary! Perhaps I should give you some motivation, and make your history more tragic! Then, I'll wipe out your family, how about it? Your father and mother. Perhaps your master and Peerage members as well? Maybe then you'll be more motivated, and can actually give me a challenge!"

[Ah, there he goes.]

[Welsh Dragon Over Booster!]

With a roar of rage, Issei charged forward, engaging Vali in a battle of hand to hand. Using the ring Azazel gave him, red armor covered him as he activated his Balance Breaker, the Boosted Gear Scale Mail.

Aster watched on calmly as Issei drew Ascalon, stabbing and slicing at Vali repeatedly. Vali weaved through them with ease. Turning back to Issei, he sent out his fists, smashing Issei in the stomach and the chest, before throwing him to the ground in front of them.

"Aren't you going to help him? Issei can't defeat Vali on his own! Please!" Rias grabbed on to Aster's arm.

Smiling gently at her, Aster spoke "Won't die. Trust. Look!"

As Rias turned back to the battle, she saw Issei fly up and smash a Boosted Ascalon through Vali's barrier, shattering it and dealing a heavy blow to him. Grabbing hold of his wings, he used Transfer on them, temporarily disabling Vali's Balance Breaker. Using Ascalon's power, he sent out his fist, destroying Vali's Balance Breaker armor.

"Issei…" Rias murmured in shock and awe, a slight smile forming on her face."

Things seemed to progress the same as they expected. Issei managed to incorporate the piece of Albion into himself, which Vali congratulated him for. Laughing with glee, he then threatened to halve Issei's surroundings with his technique, Halve Dimension, should he lose to Vali. At his words, Issei scrunched up his eyebrows, unable to process his threat.

[Oh let me let me! I want to do the honours!]

[Fine.]

Ikari blinked, and a mischievous grin settled on his face. "Issei! I'll explain it to you! In simple terms, he will halve everybody's breasts if you lose!"

He froze in shock. His eyes were wide, while holding a soulless expression. "Half… everybody's… breasts?!"

[Ahahahahahahahaha! That look on his face is pure gold!]

A dark aura emanated from his body. "I'll kill you... I'll kill you…! Don't... fuck with meeee!"

[Uwa. He's gathering so many Boosts and actually beating down Vali. Though he probably can't sustain this for more than a minute or two, and Vali is probably laughing too much to fight him properly.]

[It's over.] Aster thought back simply.

[Yea. Great that this turned out into a vacation for us, right? We easily accumulated favors from Azazel too, which we can leverage in the future.]

Even though Vali prepared to use Juggernaut Drive in response, the arrival of Bikou soon dissuaded him of this notion. The two of them then took their leave.

As he watched the two leave, Issei wobbled on his feet, and began to fall. Running forward in a panic, Rias caught him before he landed on the ground, hugging him gently to herself.

* * *

"Since you've called me after the conference, I assume you already know what to use the favors for, girl?" Azazel said casually.

The conference proceeded after the battle, with the various armies continuing the cleanup. At the end of it, the leaders of the Three Factions soon dispersed.

Nodding her head, she slid a piece of paper over.

Azazel picked it up and began reading it. "Heh, support for a Rating Game School? That might be interesting. I don't see why not. And the second, hmm…"

His eyes widened, and he began laughing uproariously. "Hahahahahaha! You're a crazy girl! But I like it! I'll help you with it, why not! If this succeeds, my name will go down in history! Not as Azazel, the leader of the Grigori, but Azazel, the Scientist!"

Standing up and returning her the slip of paper, he spoke with amusement. "Well, call in your third favor anytime you want. Hahahahaha!"

Twelve wings unfolded out from his back, and he took off.

After he left, Sona approached, having sent the rest of the Peerage back home. "What did the both of you talk about Aster-chan?"

She smiled. "Azazel, three favours. Used two."

She narrowed her eyes in worry. "Why were you so reckless? He is the Governor of the Grigori you know? We don't know if he is trustworthy yet. And if he is, you shouldn't have used them so hastily!"

Aster gently shook her head, and slipped the paper to her. Grabbing hold of it, she began to read it. "... You used the first favor for me? And the second favour… That's… Are you suicidal?!"

Aster shook her head. "Vali, can't defeat. Eventually, Issei too. Because of Longinus. Therefore…"

"You intend to remodel yourself. After a being that is at least on the same level of Albion and Ddraig, if not higher! If something goes wrong, you will be subsumed by it, you know? You will cease to exist!"

She gently placed her hand over Sona's. "Khaos Brigade, multiple Longinus. Cannot stay weak. Or everything, gone. Trust me?"

"You fool!"

Tears threatened to burst out of her eyes, as Sona took a step forward and enveloped Aster in a hug. "I care about you, you know? I wanted to give you a home, a place to rest as we slowly make our way towards my dream, the Rating Game School."

She pulled away and stared at her accusingly. "But when you keep pushing yourself, when you keep driving yourself to the edge, I feel so pained! So helpless! So terrified! Everyday I see you train to the point of collapse. Every single time I watch you use Fusion and the Eight Gates that are known to deplete your lifespan, I was petrified! That something would go wrong, and will take you away from me!"

She pounded on Aster's chest. "Why?! Why do you have to do all this?! Why do you have to take such risks?!"

Aster patted her back, even as she blinked away her own tears.

"Protect you. Protect home." She said simply.

Sona burst into tears and held onto Aster tightly. Eventually, her sobs died down, and she pulled away from Aster. Looking up at her with resolve, she spoke "... Swear to me. That you will survive and come back to me. Swear!"

Aster gave her a gentle smile and squeezed her hand tightly. "I, Aster Nilsen, swear. To return, to Sona Sitri, alive and well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate writing this chapter. I felt like I was trying to squeeze 10L of water into a 1.5L bottle. Really, there's so much information in this volume that I struggled very hard to compress them. Eventually, I did it, but I'm tired.
> 
> This was essentially a vacation for Aster. Yea yea, Vali obviously isn't the type to ask for backup, so nothing really changed. Plus he has Juggernaut Drive as reassurance, so I don't see how he would feel threatened by Aster. It's a simple fact that Divine Dividing trumps everything Aster has. But not for long! (Actually, it will be quite a while before it happens)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 7, and I'll see you all next time.


	8. Young Devils' Gathering

Sona surveyed her Peerage in the Student Council room. Clearing her throat, she continued. "All right everybody, there are three matters for us to discuss today. The first is regarding Aster-chan's promotion to middle-ranked Devil."

"Woohoo! We are the first Peerage in our generation to have a promotion! Beat that!" Tomoe whooped, and hi fived Ruruko.

"Good job, Aster-chan!" The rest of the Peerage members then came over and began congratulating her.

Sona waited for them to finish their chatter, before continuing. "As it is, Aster-chan will be taking her promotion exam during the summer vacation. This would happen right before an event the Satans have just organised. The Young Devils Gathering."

Tsubaki adjusted her glasses, and spoke. "While we aren't given much information regarding the event, we know two things for sure. The first is that we will have the opportunity to meet the other heirs of the other great families, including Seekvaira of the Agares family, Sairaorg of the Bael family, Diodora of the Astaroth family, and of course, Rias of the Gremory family. Due to the recent death of the heir of the Glasya-Labolas family, we are still unsure as to who will take his place."

"The second is that we are sure to come under the scrutiny of the higher echelons. This event was organised right after the peace treaty was signed. There is no doubt it will be used as a staging ground for the Satans to boast to the allied members of the talent of their younger generation. Therefore! We must behave with propriety and discipline, so that we do not tarnish Kaichou's name, and that of the Sitri family."

Sona looked towards them solemnly. "There is even talk of organising Rating Games between us. After all, if they intend to showcase our abilities, then it would be the natural thing to do. Hence, we will be increasing our training. Aster-chan and I have already designed the training menu. Be prepared. It will be even tougher than the one we had during Spring Break."

Tsubasa, Momo and Reya had a hardened look on their faces, seemingly prepared for the inevitable. Meanwhile, Saji's and Tomoe's face turned green.

"We… we are going to die. No! We are really going to die!" The both of them cried out hugging each other tightly, with tears streaming out.

"Eh? Ehhhh? Senpais? Are you okay?!" Ruruko panicked and knelt down beside the both of them, massaging their backs.

"Ruruko… when we start the training… you'll understand…!"

Sona sighed. "Get up, the both of you. There's still the final matter."

She drummed her fingers on the desk. "I have received a specific contract from a Fallen Angel, Armaros. He is one of the researchers in the Grigori, just below that of Azazel."

"Kaichou? Is this wise?" Tsubasa broke in.

"I spent quite some time confirming his intentions, so do not worry. In any case, he has enlisted our help in testing out an experimental magic of his, 'Reversal', in combat. From what I read about it, 'Reversal' is a fairly useful magic, which can allow us to turn the battle on its head. While all of us have gained a certain level of power, we are still unable to match true powerhouse teams like Rias' and Sairaorg's Peerage. And we don't need to. Our battle plan had always been to control the battle with technique, which 'Reversal' fits well with."

Sona shook her head. "In any case, this testing doesn't require all of us to be involved. Momo, Reya, Tsubasa, Tomoe and I will be learning the magic. Ruruko, Saji and Aster-chan, the three of you don't have the demonic power necessary to use the spell, and hence will not be learning it. Tsubaki doesn't need to learn it as well, as Mirror Alice is superior in just about every way.

Sona smiled at them gently, as she continued. "For the time being, enjoy the last few days in Kuoh before summer vacation. We'll be heading into the Underworld on the first day, to prepare for the Gathering. Since that is all, dismissed!"

"Hai Kaichou!"

* * *

[And so here we are, at the Young Devils Gathering.]

Aster had already passed the promotion exam, and became the first of the reincarnated Devils of their generation to be promoted to middle ranked Devil. Now, the Sitri Peerage had just stepped out of the elevator, coming face to face to Rias and Sairaorg, together with their Peerages.

_Boom!_

"Rias. Sairaorg. What's with the ruckus?"

Rias turned to greet her. "Sona. I too have just arrived. If anything, Sairaorg would know."

Sairaorg jerked a thumb inwards, pointing into the banquet hall. "Diodora Astaroth and Seekvaira Agares arrived first, followed by Zephyrdor Glasya-Labolas. The newbie from Glasya-Labolas picked a fight with Agares the moment he entered, resulting in this idiocy."

_**Boooooom! Crash! Bang!** _

He sighed, an exasperated expression on his face. "This is why we shouldn't meet before the official meeting…"

Sairaorg stopped leaning against the wall, and took big strides into the hall. Sona and Rias, together with their Peerages, followed behind him."

Stepping forward, he cut into the argument between the two. "Listen up. I have no interest in dragging this out. Stop the fight, or face the consequences."

Even as Seekvaira began to adjust her bearings, clearly not interested in continuing the battle, Zephyrdor opened his mouth in response. "For the incompetent Bael…!"

_Boom!_

A fist embedded itself in his stomach. Coughing out saliva, he flew back and slammed into the wall, slumping down, clearly unconscious.

His servants were all riled up by the action. "You bastard…!"

Sairaorg simply dismissed their actions with a wave of his hand. "Look after your master. There is still time to clean him up, which should be your priority. It is the same for you, Seekvaira. It won't do to attend the function in such a dishevelled state."

"I understand."

Due to that interruption, there wasn't much time for the 5 heirs and heiresses to interact with one another. All they managed to do was introduce themselves, before they were called into the hall.

The 6 of them stood side by side, their Peerages arrayed behind them. Looking up, the four Satans were seated at the very top, while the remaining Devils sat below them, in accordance with their ranks.

Sirzechs began. "Good, all of you have gathered. The Young Devils' Gathering had always been a tradition, for us to see the Devils of the next generation and to ascertain your potential and strengths.

"They don't seem to get along too well, having fought each other the moment they met." One of the elderly Devils laughed out loud.

Sirzechs continued with his speech, ignoring the interruption. "You six undoubtedly have the pedigree and abilities to be called the future of Devils. Hence, we will arrange a competition among all of you before your debuts, for you to learn and grow."

Sairaorg stepped forward, raising his head to face the Satans. "Will we be sent out against the Khaos Brigade? It is our duty as Devils, after all."

Sirzechs shook his head. "I do not know, but I personally hope it will not come to that. Even if you are powerful, Sairaorg, you have yet to reach your peak. I will not risk the enemy snipping any of you in the bud. That's why, take it slow, and focus on building yourself up."

Frowning in dissatisfaction, Sairaorg did not argue, stepping back into line with the rest. Sirzechs continued with his speech, and eventually came to the final topic.

"Now tell us your goals, and your dreams for the future."

Each of the heirs and heiresses stepped forward, proclaiming their goals to the higher echelons. Aster tensed as Sona, the last to speak, strode forward.

"I plan to build a Rating Games School in the Underworld."

Murmurs and chatters began. One of the elderly Devils turned to Sona with a perplexed look and spoke. "Isn't there already one in the Underworld?"

Taking a deep breath, Sona visibly steeled herself, and continued. "That is one where only high ranked and privileged Devils can attend. I plan for mine to accept low ranked, middle ranked, and reincarnated Devils without discrimination."

At her words, the chatter morphed into full blown laughter, intermixed with disparaging remarks. Aster could feel the rest of the Sitri Peerage tensing in anger. Saji even began to take a step forward, preparing to speak out.

Aster's hand shot forward, and grabbed hold of Saji. Gently exuding the soothing feel of life, she slowly calmed down the Peerage. Looking at Sona fondly, she manipulated the ambient chakra to grasp her hand tightly.

Sona's eyes widened at her support, and her lips curved up gently. Emboldened by the support, she spoke out, interrupting the other Devils. "A thousand years ago!"

At her words, the gallery of Devils quieted down, looking at Sona. "A thousand years ago," She continued in a softer tone.

"Any Devil which dreamed of peace between the Three Factions would be called naive, or even treated as a traitor. However, it is now a reality. If something so monumental can occur, then I believe that I too, can achieve my dream."

Silence reigned, and the Devils studied her yet again, reevaluating the Sona. Slow clapping ensued, from both Sirzechs and Serafall.

"Well spoken. Never let it be said that it is impossible to achieve your dreams. The young may seem reckless, but that is precisely why they are the advocates of change." Sirzechs continued, applauding her words.

Serafall stood up and pointed towards every Devil which had laughed at Sona. "If you old fogies are still skeptical, then let her convince you with her strength! Many privileges are granted through having good results in the Rating Games, after all!"

Without warning, Ajuka leaned forward, a look of interest on his face. A deep voice rang out. "Then so be it. Prove it to us with your strength and conviction. In your next Rating Game, against Sairaorg Bael!"

"Ajuka-chan?!" Serafall gaped, clearly not expecting him to interrupt.

[Against Sairaorg?! That's… unexpected. We probably made too big of a splash, that they ranked the Sitri Peerage just behind them. This is bad, we were not expecting to face them so soon!]

Sona's eyebrows scrunched up in thought, while Sairaorg burst into a deep, baritone laughter. "That's fine! That's great! I wanted to face you in battle, Slayer of Kokabiel! And this! This is the perfect opportunity!"

Firming up her resolve, Sona turned to Sairaorg with a defiant look on his face. "Even if it's you, we won't lose!"

Sirzechs looked towards the other Satans for a moment, before turning around. "Sona of the Sitri House will be pitted against Sairaorg of the Bael House. Rias of the Gremory House will face off against Diodora of the Astaroth House while Seekvaira of the Agares House will do so against Zephyrdor of the Glasya-Labolas House. All the matches will be held on August 20th, 21st, and the 22nd. The details of the matches will be sent again later."

[Oh dear. I think canon just died a quick and silent death.]

* * *

"This will be the hardest fight we ever faced. Like I said a few months back, we are putting our lives on the line. This is no different. Are all of you prepared?" Sona looked at her Peerage, fire burning in her eyes.

At her words, Saji looked down. "Kaichou… Did you know? When you told us your dream, I saw my future! A future… as a teacher… I really wanted to cry then, because a good for nothing like me, can actually become a teacher!"

Clenching his fists, Saji looked up with a bitter expression on his face. "I can't stand it! When they laugh at our dream! Even if I have to die for our dream, I'll do it! I'll do it!"

Tsubaki returned an intense look. "Kaichou, from the moment we joined your Peerage, we have resolved ourselves. Live or die, we will be with you. If just these Devils could make us question our resolve, our conviction… Then they are underestimating us."

"That's right!"

"Kaichou, we will win!"

"No matter what!"

The door to the room suddenly opened. "Well, I heard what happened. So your group is faced with the strongest of the six, eh? What a conundrum."

"Governer Azazel… Why are you here?" Sona turned towards the Fallen Angel, glaring at him.

"Well, that's because I'm already invested in your Peerage. Even though I was already an advisor to the Gremory Peerage, I decided to guide yours at the same time. There's no clash in interests, after all!"

Sona sighed, and turned back to the Peerage. "That's fine. As long as you are no longer helping either Peerages when we face each other, there will be no problem. For the time being, we are going to analyze the situation."

Sitting down on a sofa, Azazel gestured. "Go on. I'll just comment every now and then."

Sona adjusted her glasses, and continued. "The situation is as follows. We are currently ranked 2nd, behind Sairaorg's Peerage. I believe they pitted us against them for two reasons, the first being that they wanted a splash, a big opening to the tournament to attract attention. The second is that… they wanted a grand finale as well. Basically, they have their eyes on Hyoudou-kun, the Sekiryuutei, and the one with the greatest growth rate at the moment, and is giving him more time to grow before pitting them against the strongest Peerage, for an exciting last match. Whether it's us or Sairaorg's Peerage, it doesn't matter."

Azazel interjected, a playful smile on his face. "There's still one possible reason. I believe the one who made the suggestion was Ajuka, no? He doesn't move unless there's something that interests him. If that's the case, he has likely taken an interest in Aster's situation, and engineered this Rating Game to push her even more. Sirzechs and Serafall were certainly surprised by his interruption, after all."

"Attention from a Satan… I can't even tell if it's good or bad." Sona muttered, before carrying on.

"In any case, the second and third reason doesn't affect us. If we look at the first reason, it is highly likely that the format chosen will eventually result in a 1v1 between Sairaorg and Aster."

"Don't be mad at me when I say this, Aster-chan, but I'm getting sick of everybody looking at us as though Kaichou's Peerage only has you! All of us are here too!" Tomoe cried out.

Aster reached out a hand to comfort her. "Not offended. Angry too."

"It might be irksome, but it can be used to our advantage. Back to the analysis, there are a few formats which have a high chance of being used, as it practically guarantees the confrontation.

Moving to the whiteboard, she began writing down. "The Dice Figure Game, the Lightning Fast Game, and the Board Collapse Game."

"Each of these either limit the number of competitors, the time, or the area of the match. All of which would have a high chance of forcing a confrontation between Aster-chan and Sairaorg."

Tsubaki murmured. "The first being a contest of strength, the second that of decisiveness, and the third being control."

"There is no strategy involved for the Dice Figure Game, only tactics. In fact, we can resign ourselves to having the Sairaorg and Aster match. The only thing we can do is to defeat our enemies, and weaken Sairaorg as much as possible for Aster-chan. After all, I wouldn't put it past the organisers to rig the Dice Rolls deliberately."

"The Lightning Fast Game is a measure of our decisiveness. Strike hard and fast. It will be a fast paced battle, as its name suggests. This game might be somewhat easier, but it isn't by much. Even though it's a team match, it isn't very favourable to us as the map size will be limited, forcing a battle instantly. We won't be able to leverage our surveillance capabilities as effectively, our sole advantage over their group."

"The Board Collapse Game is more of a territorial game, which suits us far better. With our myriad ways to track the enemies, we can attack them in their weak spots, pushing them out towards the edge before the actual collapse occurs. More importantly, the length of the Game means that our exhausted members will have the chance to rest, allowing us to utilise our numerical advantage effectively. We would essentially control the pace of the game."

Tapping the board with a pen, she continued. "Now that we analyzed the most likely formats to be used, let us take a look at our opponent's abilities…"

* * *

Aster strode towards the guest room, where Azazel currently resided. Sona was already heading to the training grounds, preparing to test out an idea Ikari suggested.

[This situation is terrible. Since our match with Sairaorg will likely be the first, when the attack from the Old Maou Faction comes, we will all be injured and exhausted, even if we had a day of rest. And this time, the Devils won't have advanced warning! Diodora using Ophis' snake during his match against Seekvaira was the reason they got suspicious in the first place!] Ikari fretted.

[Furthermore, we have no guarantee that their plan is the same! Without data of Reversal from the battle between So-chan's and Rias' Peerage like before, they might change the whole plan instead! The only thing we can be assured of is that Asia-chan would still be the primary target, because of Diodora's fixation on her.]

[Furthermore, attack us, likely.]

[You're right. Their goal is to kill off the descendents of the current Satans, which includes So-chan. Especially as weak as we would be after our Rating Game… The Sitri Peerage needs us, but so does the Gremory Peerage. We can't be in two places at once…! Since we would be exhausted at best, heavily wounded at worst.]

As they opened the door, Azazel, who was lying on the sofa, looked up. "Hello, Aster-chan! The pressure sure is high. If you are here for the plan, I haven't finished collecting the materials needed. Some of them are just too rare to be found that easily. As a side note, we should get Ajuka's help for this too."

Aster shook her head. "Will ask. But, something else."

Azazel grinned, and leapt up. "Oh? And you need my help? Well, I guess it's time for me to earn my keep! You people are so different from the Gremory Peerage, I didn't even need to advise all of you that much. What do you have in mind?"

The two of them went out to the training grounds, where Sona was already waiting.

"So what are we here for?" He turned and asked curiously.

Sona looked at him. "Ikari, the ego formed from the black chakra, had a suggestion. If it works, Aster will have a boost in strength. At this point, I'll give it a shot, even if it seems impossible."

Rubbing his hands together in glee, Azazel spoke. "Then let's begin!"

* * *

As Aster lay in bed together with Sona, she still held a worried look on her face. Both Aster and Ikari were unable to find an acceptable method to avert the upcoming attack. Either the method had too low a chance to succeed, or they would blow their cover right away.

"Aster-chan, what's wrong?" Sona smoothed out the creases on her forehead and asked gently.

She hesitated, a sudden thought springing to her mind.

[I… don't believe it's a bad idea. We don't have any solutions, and I don't want Asia-chan's death on our consciousness. And… we've become strong enough that we are fairly safe, especially since most of our time would be spent near Issei, who could Transfer us his Boosts.]

[More importantly, it means that instead of staying on the defensive, the Three Factions can go all out, and start attacking Qlippoth from every direction. If this is the only way, then let's do it.]

"Sona-chan…" Aster murmured, before she opened her mouth, and began to explain.

At the end of the story, Aster was shrinking in on herself, not daring to look Sona in the face. The silence was deafening, even as Sona processed the truckload of information Aster dumped on her.

"Aster-chan, look at me." She eventually began.

She shivered and curled in on herself, before slowly raising her head in trepidation. What she was not expecting, was Sona hugging her even more tightly.

"That's what you've been preparing for all this time, isn't it? That's why you are pushing yourself so hard." Sona's words gently entered her ears.

"Don't get me wrong, I am still angry with you, for not telling me everything earlier. But you are right, if you had told us the information, you and Ikari would be in extreme danger. Even though I care about the Devils, the ones who would inadvertently die because we didn't get this information earlier… I am selfish enough to choose you over them. I wonder if this is how Rias felt everytime she defended her servants."

"Even if you withheld information from me, you didn't lie to me, right? And that's the most important thing."

"Erm… Back when I was explaining our circumstances..." Ikari took over, opening with an embarrassed statement.

"Ikari, in self-denial. Doesn't believe, me and him, same origin."

"... What? No, you couldn't have been part of who I was before I died! You didn't have the same knowledge I did!"

Aster pointed at herself. "Disproportionate splitting. Me, hope. You, despair."

"What."

Sona pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "I think I get what Aster is trying to say. Aster is a very small portion of the previous you, the part that represented hope. She slowly gained sentience in her new life as Aster, just like a normal child. But you, the part that represented despair, naturally had the memories of your past life as you made up a large portion of the previous you. Your past life must be quite terrible indeed, for you to be dominated by despair."

"Anyway, what probably happened was that your mind splintered at the point of your death. And that's likely the reason why you aren't fought Aster-chan and is assisting her instead, even with the infusion of black chakra later on. For one, despair isn't a strong driving force, and induces stagnancy instead. So you couldn't be bothered to fight with her. But the more important reason is, even in this new life, Aster-chan... is still your hope."

"... What."

Aster giggled. "Ikari, midlife crisis."

"No, wait. How would you know if we used to be the same person?! That makes no sense!"

Aster rolled her eyes, and continued with a deadpan voice. "Fusion succeeded. Same origin."

"Oh. Right. If we didn't use to be the same person, it won't succeed… I'm an idiot."

"Yes you are." Sona sighed, before continuing.

"Anyway, back on topic. I am still mad, don't get me wrong. But I'm glad you told me everything the moment things got out of hand. We've still got a month to plan and avert the disaster. For that, I'll ask Onee-sama to make arrangements."

"Meanwhile… Yes, this will do. I'll hand a high-end teleportation circle to Rias, under the pretext that I had a bad feeling before her match. Once the attack comes, I'll have her summon all of us. We would not only bypass our attackers directly, but can also group up with Rias and begin the rescue operation for Asia."

"As for the things after that… It's clearly out of my league as well. Even as the heiress to the Sitri House, I myself don't have the resources to act upon the information. I would likely have to entrust the information to Onee-sama to act upon it with the other Satans, since telling my parents would draw attention to us instead… I foresee that they will not make any major movements, however, and will only discreetly prepare while waiting for the perfect moment to destroy all their plans in one move."

Aster sighed in relief, and snuggled into Sona's side. "Was terrified. Sona-chan, chase me away."

Patting her head gently, she smiled. "There's no way I would throw you out. You are already part of my family, one of my servants. But don't think you can avoid punishment. From tomorrow onwards, I'll bring in a separate bed, and you will sleep on it, all the way until the sponsored party before the matches."

"Sona-chan?!"

* * *

Time passed quickly, and soon, it was time for the main party. Sona brought her Peerage to Rias' castle, both of them having decided to head to the party together. Tannin and his family members acted as their chaperone and transport, flying them to the party personally. While the rest of the Sitri Peerage interacted with the Gremory Peerage, Aster remained by Sona's side, enjoying her presence.

Rias opened her mouth. "Sona, aren't you worried about your match? Sairaorg is the strongest Devil in our generation, you know?"

Sona eyed her, a slight smile on her face. "Not particularly. In terms of brute strength, we are clearly behind. But… that was never our focus. We will use this chance to show the rest of Hell that we are serious. From these Rating Games, we'll pave the way to our future."

"It's the same for you. Don't you dare lose to Astaroth. That man may look like a gentleman, but he is a disgusting person. Also, make sure to tell Asia-san to be careful. I received information that he may have engineered her excommunication. If I'm not wrong, all the members of his Peerage used to be sisters, nuns of the Church, and he did the exact same thing to them.

Rias sucked in a breath, even as her eyes widened in rage. "That guy… So that's why he has been visiting us daily. I originally thought he was just a love-struck fool, but if what you say is true…!"

Her expression hardened. "We'll beat him within an inch of his life, and make sure he never gets close to Asia."

Sona nodded her head in affirmation, and took out a scroll. "Take this. It's not that I'm not confident in your Peerage, but I believe that there is something more to Diodora Astaroth. If something unexpected happens during the Games, you can rely on us."

Rias looked at the scroll warily, before taking it and unrolled it. "This is… a high end teleportation scroll. Is Diodora Astaroth that dangerous?"

She shook her head. "It's not him especially. If the two of your Peerages fought fairly, I have no doubt yours will win. But…"

Rias narrowed her eyes. "But if there is outside interference, then the outcome isn't guaranteed. The only group that would possibly attack during a Rating Game is the Khaos Brigade… Then, is Diodora aligned with them?!"

Sona looked at her seriously. "He is. The Satans have investigated, and it has been confirmed. But they intend to spring the trap, which means sending you and your Peerage into the Rating Game."

Rias glared at her. "Why are you informed, and not me? Considering that I'm the one involved, yet the Satans have chosen to inform you rather than me…"

Sona sighed. "It is not my secret to tell. Rias, do you trust me?"

She looked back and evaluated Sona. "... I trust you. How could I not? We might be rivals, but we are also best friends. I won't press you for answers this time, but the next time something like this happens, I will demand an answer, understood?"

Sona gave her a nod. "Crystal."

Rias blinked and exhaled. "In return, I'll pass you one as well. That way, if anybody who doesn't know the reason asks, we can say that the both of us are in an alliance, and have agreed to assist each other during extreme danger. Whatever you are hiding, I'll help you cover it up for the time being. It will pay off the favor I owe you last year."

Hearing her answer, Sona had a hint of a smile on her face. She turned to Aster and spoke. "Alright Aster-chan, you can take down the sound barrier."

It was not a moment too soon, when Tannin's voice resounded. "We're here kids!"

The party went as Aster expected. They spent the time socialising with the Devils present, exchanging greetings every now and then. Though quite a few male Devils attempted to talk to her, she glued herself to Sona's side, whose reputation quickly made them take a step back. After that, she picked up a plate, and began to nibble on the food.

It wasn't long before she sensed what she was expecting, and she gave Sona a nudge. Sona glanced over at her quizzically, before realising that Aster had sensed the appearance of the Khaos Brigade. In return, she gave Aster a nod.

[Let's go! I want to see Issei's ridiculous power up!] Ikari cheered.

Swiftly containing her aura and chakra, she blended into the crowd and began to follow Koneko out of the banquet hall into the forests. She dimly noted Rias and Issei doing the same thing, who were in turn followed by Tannin.

"It's been a while, Shirone." An enchanting voice rang out.

Aster was currently perched on a tree a short distance away observing them, having merged her aura signature into the tree. So too were Issei and Rias, hiding behind another tree much closer to the pair.

[Eh, something's different. There's another person with Kuroka and Bikou. It is…!]

"Yo, kid." Tannin spoke from her side.

"You sensed me?" Aster asked, even as she narrowed her eyes at the change.

"Yea. I managed to track you while you were moving. While stationary, not even I could sense you. But when you are on the move, you don't assimilate into the environment too well. Then again, only a being on my level could detect you, so it's not exactly a demerit."

"Needs more practice."

Turning back to the scene, he continued. "So it's the Khaos Brigade again? And there's three of them. Tch. One monkey, one cat and one holy sword user. That holy sword is troublesome.

"Caliburn." Aster muttered.

"Come out! Even if you erase your presence, it's useless! Both Kuroka and I, who learned Senjutsu, can detect you by the fluctuations of your spirit!" Bikou called out.

At his statement, both Rias and Issei stood up and strode forward, engaging Bikou and Kuroka in a conversation.

Tannin glared down at the trio, and continued "Kid. I hate to do this, but I can't take on the holy sword user. Currently, I only have my natural weapons to fight, which his sword will cleave through easily. You on the other hand, have the Life Tree. So I'll take on the monkey, and you'll take on the holy sword user, how about it? If he doesn't enter the battle, then you don't need to either, how about it?"

Aster raised an eye at his words. "Barrier, shatter, easier."

Tannin grinned, exposing a fang-filled maw. "I want to see if I can use this chance, and push that idiot to use Balance Breaker. It's also why I won't be crushing that monkey right away, and pretend to have a drawn out battle. How about it, are you in?"

[Well, maybe it's not too much of a change. For all we knew, Arthur Pendragon was supposed to be here this early. Besides, if he joins, we have a chance to give him a good thrashing, for saving those magicians the last time."

"I didn't learn Senjutsu because of you Onee-sama. I learnt it for my master, for Buchou! For my friends! I won't go with you…!

"Well, that's my cue." Tannin smirked, leaping into the air and morphing into his full size.

Both Bikou and Tannin began to fight, even as Rias, Issei, and Koneko continued to look at Kuroka warily.

Arthur Pendragon flashed to Kuroka's side, and spoke. "Kuroka, Bikou. Both of you are getting sloppy. There's still one more person here."

"WHAAAAAT!" A cry resounded from the skies.

"Arara?" Kuroka curled a finger and raised it to her chin in confusion.

[Oh? He sensed us? He couldn't have. It must have been the sword. Somehow, it informed him of our presence. Well, let's go and give him an ass whooping then.]

Dropping out of the tree, Aster landed beside Issei and Rias. "Arthur. My enemy."

Kuroka looked at her warily, before turning back to the trio. "Well, while those two settle their love-hate relationship. Shirone, won't you reconsider?"

"No." She rejected her firmly.

"I see…" Kuroka sighed in resignation, before continuing. "Then… die!"

At her words, Aster and Arthur flashed into the forest, distancing themselves from the others. Both of them took a 90 degrees turn towards each other at the same time. Gold flashed down, even as black and white arced through Aster's skin.

 _Clang!_ Her green gauntlet struck the side of Caliburn's blade, deflecting it to one side. "Defended family's murderers. Will. Make. You. Regret!"

Stretching out with the other hand, Aster sent out a fist. Now off balanced, Arthur barely managed to jump back in time, dodging the punch. Aster glanced down at her gauntlet, noting the deep scar in it.

[That was close. If we had blocked that directly, it might have even sliced through our gauntlets, despite quadrupling their thickness. Try not to take any more hits.]

[More importantly, we can't waste the store of chakra in our familiars as we need them for tomorrow's match. So we can only use the Life Tree as our armor.]

Landing on his feet, he rebuilt his posture, holding Caliburn before him. "It was my assignment. I won't deny my responsibility, but you are aiming your murderous aura at the wrong person. I am not responsible for their past actions.

"That's why, only crushing, not killing!" Aster hissed, before pouncing forward.

With the Third Gate opened, Aster was as fast as Arthur despite being a Rook. The two of them streaked towards one another. As Caliburn rose and swiped downwards, Aster dodged to her left and lashed out with a back kick.

Arthur bent low, turning Caliburn to face Aster, and slashed it upwards at a diagonal angle. As she landed on her feet, Aster ducked to the side and swiped out with her leg, aiming to destabilise him with a leg sweep. In response, Arthur leapt back to gain distance, raising the sword in front of him yet again.

The both of them studied each other yet again, before streaking towards each other again. As Arthur unleashed a flurry of thrusts and slices, Aster either avoided or deflected them gracefully as she danced, before coming in close and sending out her own punches and kicks. It was a difficult fight for the both of them, Aster being unable to block Caliburn effectively, while Arthur simply could not land his strikes.

White and black chakra streaked out, chasing after Arthur. Retreating backwards, he drew Excalibur Ruler and destroyed them with ease, while Aster flashed to his front and sent out a whirlwind of strikes. On the defensive, he used both Excalibur Ruler and Caliburn to deflect the attacks, before taking distance yet again.

The two were at a standstill. Neither could catch the other without dipping into their trump cards. Aster, without using either the Life Tree or Hell Thorn as her weapons, had no effective options against Arthur. Even though Arthur had drawn Excalibur Ruler, it was not of significant assistance, the sword just wasn't strong enough to cleave through the Life Tree. Drawing too heavily on Caliburn's strength however, would destroy the barrier instead, revealing themselves

"This is surprising. You are quite a bit faster and stronger than I was told. Was Vali's experience different?" He murmured.

Aster said nothing, looking back at Arthur evenly.

_Boom!_

The ground trembled. Both Arthur and Aster looked towards the faraway mountain, which had a huge chunk of it blown away.

[About time. It's too bad this idiot called us out, or I would have the luxury of watching Issei poke breasts to achieve Balance Breaker.] Ikari grumbled in annoyance.

"The barrier is gone. I suppose our fight is forfeit as well. We'll see you soon, then." Arthur spoke, before flashing back to Kuroka. Aster followed right behind him."

The rest progressed as they expected. The battlefield was quickly cleaned up while the higher echelons convened, together with the newly-arrived Odin. Returning to Sona's side, Aster had a crestfallen face on her face.

"Don't worry too much. Like you said, he will eventually convert over. At the time I'll make sure he takes a beating willingly, or the entire Sitri Peerage will hunt him down from then on."

Aster shook her head vigorously, and a knowing grin appeared on Sona's face. "Or maybe… Ikari is just upset he didn't get to see Issei poke Rias' breasts to achieve Balance Breaker, right?"

At her words, Aster nodded her head vigorously.

[Traitor.] He mumbled fondly.

"Well, we'll give our all tomorrow. Regardless of whether there is an attack the day after, we will grasp our future in our hands with tomorrow's victory. We can handle everything else after that."

"Hai."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And canon says bye. I decided to tell it to screw off, especially with the reveal, after the nightmare I had for the last two chapters. You didn't really think they could hide it forever and ever, did you? One way or another, butterflies will happen.
> 
> The truth regarding Aster's and Ikari's circumstances are revealed. Aster, for all intents and purposes, is an OC. She can only be very loosely considered an SI. Ikari is an SI through and through, so yea.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed chapter 8, and I'll see you guys next time.


	9. Sitri vs Bael!

"This feels really comfortable!" Tomoe whistled in amazement.

Momi turned towards Tomoe. "Of course. Aster-chan went through a lot of trouble to create your armaments with her familiars, you know?"

"I can feel the lifeforce from this piece of wood. It has a really soothing feeling. I can't wait to test out my gauntlets too! The Hell Thorn tips on them… hehehehehe." Ruruko had an evil smile on her face.

"Stay focused, everybody. We are about to be teleported into the arena."

"Hai, Kaichou!"

The magic circle shone, and they disappeared in a flash of light. When the light faded away, Sona grimaced at the sight of Sairaorg's Peerage in the distance.

"Everybody, I am Rudiger Rosenkreutz, ranked 7th in the Rating Games, and I will be the arbiter for the Bael vs Sitri match." A deep gentle voice resounded

"This match will have the format of a Lightning Fast Game. Within an hour, the team to first defeat the enemies' King wins. In the case where neither team is able to do so, a winning team is decided by the number of points they each gathered, based on the Pieces they defeated."

"Lastly, the battlefield is on grassland, and the area is limited to 500m x 500m. Each team has 3 minutes to strategise, before we start the Rating Game proper. The timing starts… now!"

Turning to her Peerage, Sona started. "This is one of the worst situations we could be in, aside from a Dice Figure Game. However! We've predicted this possibility, and already formulated our plans and strategies. Everybody is clear on what to do, right?"

"Hai Kaichou!" They chorused.

"We are at a numerical and strength disadvantage. But just like how we always did, we will overcome the odds! No matter how strong they are, we… will… win!"

"Hai!"

"The three minutes are up! Let the Game… begin!"

"Aster-chan! Let's do it!"

Both Sona and Aster knelt, pressing their palms to the floor. Even as Sairaorg and his Peerage took off, sprinting towards them, the both of them closed their eyes and concentrated.

"Water Magic. Earth Devastation!"

"Life Tree. Explode!"

Lines of water streaked out from Sona's palms in a fan-like shape, encompassing the Bael Peerage. As they glanced down in curiosity, the earth rumbled, the streams of water carving the ground into massive chunks. Trees and vegetation exploded from the ground, sending every chunk of earth flying. As their foothold destabilised, the Bael Peerage were scattered away from one another.

Another magic circle shone in front of Sona, and she cried out. "Water Magic. Mist World!"

A thick fog rose from the ground, enveloping the entire arena. Sona coughed with the exertion. "That took a lot of demonic power…! I only have half of my magic capacity left! The rest of you, move out, according to Aster-chan's directions!"

"Hai Kaichou!" With that, all of them took off.

* * *

Looking up, Reya placed a finger to her temple, and spoke. "Enemy incoming, 50 metres away. Three of them. I feel an icy demonic power, a dragon-like aura, and a metallic one."

Tsubasa narrowed her eyes. "According to Kaichou, that would be Coriana Andrealphus, Ladora Bune, and either Beluna Furcas or Liban Crocell.

"3 of them? They gathered up fairly quickly. Still, it won't be enough. Let's go! While Kaichou and Aster-chan draw away the three strongest of their team! Tomoe, Saji, with me!" Turning towards the enemy, Tsubaki spoke, and burst forward.

As the trio burst forward, Reya's voice continued to resound in their minds "40m. 30m. 20m. 10m. Contact!"

Bursting through the mist, Tsubaki raised her naginata and swiped down with it violently. Tomoe was beside her, charging in and slashing with her katana swiftly.

_Clang. Snik._

"What?!"

"Raaaagh!"

Two voices rang out, the first in surprise, and the second in agony.

"A sword! So it's you, Liban Crocell!" Tsubaki spoke out, as she locked her naginata against the swordsman. Tomoe had long disappeared into the mist, after dealing a severe slice against the Rook, Ladore Bune."

"Cowardly! Using surprise attacks and ambushes!" He roared and pushed back.

"Ice magic incoming. Disengage, Tsubaki!" Reya's voice echoed.

Narrowing her eyes, she leapt back and disappeared into the mist. It was not a moment too soon, as ice spears dotted her original position.

Even as she retreated, Reya's voice continued to ring out, directing the members.

"Saji has made contact. Plan Alpha is a go!"

"Tomoe, head 15m forward, and turn left! 5m ahead, that is where Coriana is!"

"Tsubasa, be prepared to enter the battle! Ladora seems to be bulking up. He is transitioning into his dragon state!"

"Ahhhh!" A scream rang out.

"One of Sairaorg's Bishops has retired." Rudiger's voice rang out."

"Now! Tsubasa! Disable Ladora! Tomoe, Tsubaki! Finish off Liban!"

Tsubasa leapt from a tree, unleashing a punch onto Ladora's back. Smashing him into the ground, she created a giant crater around him. As she landed on his back, Tsubasa grabbed onto one of the wings.

"Horyaaaaah!"

"RAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

Ladora thrashed on the ground in pain, as Tsubasa leapt off his back, holding one of his wings. At the same time, both Tsubaki and Tomoe sped towards Liban, one from the front and the other from the back.

 _Clang_.

Unfortunately for them, Liban was not only able to block Tsubaki's naginata, he had also evaded Tomoe's slash. Narrowing his eyes in anger, he roared. "Gravity Jail!"

Tsubaki felt an immense pressure on herself, grounding her. Her naginata was pushed to the side, as Liban winded up his sword to finish her off.

"Now! Saji! To the right!"

His eyes widened in shock, as Tsubaki flickered to the right, dodging his slash. Jumping back, the naginata passed merely centimetres from his throat.

"How…?" He muttered, before turning in an instant and blocking Tomoe's strike. He blinked vigorously, attempting to fight off his sleepiness and faced forward. A moth flew off, disappearing into the mist.

A line attached to Tsubaki ran taut, and she was quickly pulled from the area affected by Gravity Jail. With that, she vanished into the mist.

_**Boom!** _

"Sairaorg's Queen has retired."

"Kaichou and Aster have eliminated Kuisha Abbadon, and made contact with Sairaorg Bael and Regulus! Meanwhile, reinforcements are enroute, 50m out! They are Misteeta Sabnock, Beluga Furcas, and Gandoma Balam! Momo is doing her best to slow them down, but we have to finish up!"

Reya's voice continued in a composed manner. "Saji! Tsubasa had enough! Give the rest to me!"

"Tsubaki, Tomoe, Saji, finish off Liban Crocell at all costs! Then move on to Phase 2!"

"Yosha!"

"Gotcha!"

"Understood!"

Streaking out of the mist, both Tomoe and Tsubaki headed for Liban Crocell's position. With a grim, yet tired expression, he raised his sword. As he blinked his sleepiness away, he could barely block and deflect every thrust, every slash the pair sent his way. With each step, he moved back in Ladora's direction.

"Saji, now!" Tsubaki roared.

Just as Liban began to raise his sword, aiming to deflect Tsubaki's slash, his arm froze. Looking down, he saw two lines stuck to the outside of his arm, stretched taut.

"What!? Since when?!"

Looking back up in panic, he could do nothing as Tsubaki's naginata sliced deeply into his abdomen, while Tomoe's katana ran him through in the right chest.

With the two crippling wounds, he slowly faded into blue light.

"One of Sairaorg's Knights has retired." Rudiger's voice resounded.

Just as he completely faded away, Reya's voice echoed.

"The trio has broken past Momo's barriers! They are entering the field together, riding on Beluga's duplicates! Tomoe, engage Gadoma! Tsubaki, go after Beluga! Ruruko will back you up! Momo is heading to your position to counter Misteeta! Saji, begin Phase 2!"

Panting slightly, both Tsubaki and Tomoe glanced at each other, before sprinting in Reya's appointed direction.

* * *

Tsubasa faced the dragon before her coolly. "Ever since Aster-chan joined us, I always felt inferior. Weak. Just a weaker version of her. And the worst part was that I couldn't even bring myself to hate her. She was like the little sister I never had, the one I always wanted."

"So I trained to the limits. Kaichou sat beside me, encouraging me. Telling me that she never regretted choosing me."

"And so I decided. I would walk beside them, sooner or later. Even if I'm weak now, I'll catch up. And I'll prove it today, by defeating a dragon!"

Bending her knees, she burst forward. Even as Labora drew back and breathed fire, she ran through the flames without faltering, a white aura surrounding herself.

"Touki? Just like my master, you've achieved Touki without Senjutsu?!" Labora roared in disbelief, even as he rose up and smashed downwards with a claw.

"It's nothing special! Something like this… Even Aster-chan could do it!" Stopping the claw with brute force, she grabbed hold of it and heaved, raising Labora and smashing him on the ground repeatedly.

Huffing with the exertion, she finally laid Labora down. He clambered up, not particularly wounded by the act. "Even if you are tough and strong, you still can't do anything to me! We are in a stalemate! What is your goal?"

Tsubasa's eyes flashed, and she looked up grimly. "The goal is to defeat you here! The goal is to defeat your Peerage, here and now! Did you know our frustration, when we were laughed at by the higher echelons of the Devils?! You must! I know your history, and your master's too! Therefore, you understand why we are going so far as to use everything we have, even our lives!"

Launching forward, the two swiped, punched, kicked, even burned each other repeatedly. "We won't stop here! We will progress onwards, for Kaichou's dream!"

"Neither will we! We will win, again and again! If we lose, everything is over for us! That's why…!"

* * *

Saji gritted his teeth, as he hid in the safety of the mist. "Tsubasa-senpai, Tomoe-senpai, Fuku-Kaichou, I'm sorry… I'm so useless..."

A hand clasped down on his shoulder. "Don't be. The reason we will win this match, will be because of you, because of us. Look at their fight, and prepare yourself. For the finale."

Letting go of his shoulder, Reya took a step forward, gazing towards the location of the fights. "Did you know, when Kaichou asked me to direct the Peerage in her place, I was terrified. I'm not like Kaichou or Fuku-Kaichou who can take the reins with ease. In fact, it was always the very last thing I wanted to do."

Turning around and giving Saji a soft smile. "But for the sake of the Peerage, I will give it everything I have. Even with all my fears and uncertainties. Because Kaichou looked at me in the eyes and told me, 'I trust you'. That's why, I can't afford to fail here. No, it's the same for all of us, who Kaichou placed her trust in. All of us cannot fail here."

Stepping closer, she looked down at Saji. "Saji, because of this, we will be using everything we have for our final attack. Chin up! Face forward with pride! It is because of us, that we will win here!"

"One of Sairaorg's Bishops has retired!"

"One of Sairaorg's Rooks has retired!"

"One of Sona's Rooks has retired!"

She turned towards the main battle. "Are you ready, Saji-kun? If you are, then… Let's do it."

* * *

"Balance Breaker, Nostalgia Mad Tea Party! Mad Hatter, Dormouse, March Hare, come to me!" Tsubaki cried out, even as she forcefully diverted a spear thrust from one of Beluga's duplicates. She gritted her teeth, as she and Ruruko faced down the remaining ones. Her Balance Breaker had bought the both of them a moment of respite, yet the real Beluga had managed to avoid them, summoning more replicas to continue attacking them.

The mist was slowly disappearing, and the two of them were being forced into a greater disadvantage over time. Despite her Balance Breaker, the both of them could barely hold their own against Beluga's unrelenting assault. If it wasn't for Momo's timely barriers which blocked several critical hits, and Saji's interference, throwing off the duplicates' strikes and guiding them out of the way, they would have lost long ago.

Tomoe on the other hand was doing well. Her speed meant that she was easily circling Gandoma and slashing him over and over again. The battle was, however, taking some time to finish as Gandoma had extremely high defence. Even though her katana was made from a Hell Thorn, it was from a dead section, meaning it's destructive potential was not as impressive as a life one. Still, it was only a matter of time before she defeated Gandoma.

Momo was shutting down Misteeta at every turn. As a flame dragon descended, it ran face-first into a large barrier. Misteeta was clearly grinding his teeth in vexation at the unexpected counter.

Even though things were going well overall, the Sitri Peerage had limited time. The mist was already dispersing due to the explosions from Misteeta's explosions, revealing themselves bit by bit to the Bael Peerage.

"Tch. This is taking too long! If that's the case…" Misteeta grumbled, before swiping away the red magic circle. Pointing his staff forward, he shouted. "Trick Vanish!"

"Now! Momo!" Reya's voice rang out.

Momo's eyes flashed, and raised her hand. "Reversal!"

Just as black markings began to creep up Momo's legs, it stopped, and slowly vanished. Misteeta looked down in shock as his own black markings began to climb up his legs. "What?! How! How did you know, and predicted it successfully! How?!"

Momo fell to her knees in pain, even as she coughed violently. Blood splattered out from her mouth, and she wiped them away with her uniform. The Reversal magic had clearly taken a great toll on her body.

As Momo was incapacitated, she was unable to pay attention to the fight between Beluga, Tsubaki and Ruruko. A swipe from Beluga blew Tsubaki back, causing her to roll across the grass and eventually stopping beside Momo. Turning towards the isolated Ruruko, he charged forward, stabbing her through the abdomen while avoiding her armor. Even with her Promotion to Queen, she could not withstand the strike and slowly faded away in a wave of blue light.

"One of Sona's Pawns has retired!" Rudiger's voice rang out.

Turning around, he spotted Tomoe still engaged in a cat and mouse game with Gandoma. He raised his spear and his horse galloped forward.

"Tomoe!" Tsubaki cried out.

Noting his interference thanks to Tsubaki's warning, she managed to deflect Beluga's spear strike at the last second, launching herself backwards. Tomoe landed near Momo and Tsubaki, falling to one knee as she panted harshly.

"Gaha." She coughed, blood flowing out from her mouth. She weakly raised a thumbs up, and gasped. "I'm… fine…!"

Climbin to his feet weakly, Misteeta began to laugh. "Ha… Hahahahaha! Even if you countered my Sacred Gear...! We've won this battle! Given your conditions, you can't stand against us any longer!"

Momo glared back, and raised his hands towards him "I'm not done yet! Senbonzakura!"

A whirlwind began to build up around Misteeta. Tiny, razor sharp barriers swirled around him, cutting and lacerating his skin. Some dug deeper, entering his lungs, heart and abdomen. He was suddenly covered in a blue light, and vanished from the area.

"One of Sairaorg's Bishops has retired!"

"One of Sairaorg's Rooks has retired!"

"One of Sona's Rooks has retired!"

"Tsubasa... If that's the case, then it's time." Tsubaki muttered, struggling to her feet as she leaned against her naginata.

Beluga trotted forward atop his horse, Gandoma beside him. "Surrender. The three of you are in no condition to…"

Lightning flashed.

_**Boom!** _

"One of Sairaorg's Knights has retired!"

"One of Sairaorg's Rooks has retired!"

"One of Sona's Bishops has retired!"

An enormous crater exploded open, where Beluga and Gandoma once were. Clearly, Rudiger had opted to withdraw both of them before the lightning hit, or they would have likely perished in the strike.

"So Reya is gone.. She must have drawn upon her lifeforce on top of Saji's power transfer, packing everything she had into this one blow." Tsubaki muttered.

Looking around, she continued. "The mist is almost gone, which means Kaichou is almost out of demonic power. She is basically defenceless. We need to make our way to Kaichou and Aster-chan as quickly as we can."

Three lines snaked out, attaching to them. Tsubaki, Tomoe and Momo felt their magical power begin to return. Turning around, they faced Saji, who had tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Reya-senpai said that with all the magic power I passed onto her from the 6 enemy members, her magic pathways would all be overloaded. She wouldn't be able to even use her spying and communication magic. So… she burnt her lifeforce, asking me to siphon the excess so that I could pass it on to the three of you. So that… even after she's eliminated… she would still be here with us…!"

Momo stretched a hand into her pocket, pulling out her peaches. "Saji, don't cry. All of us have resolved ourselves for this! For the time being, we need to rest up as much as we can. Thanks to Aster-chan's Life Tree armor, we have some regenerative abilities. Let's eat my peaches, and regain our strength! Afterwards, we will head towards Kaichou and Aster-chan. We will win! For Kaichou, for Reya-chan, for Ruruko-chan!"

"That's right!"

* * *

"What a match…! With this, the Sitri Peerage have maneuvered themselves into the most advantageous position possible!"

"Indeed! They only lost two members, and the Bael Peerage are instead down to the last two! What a turnaround! For the strongest Peerage to be beaten down like this!"

"Was everything planned right from the first move? When the Sitri girl and her Rook changed the environment to their advantage?"

At their gushing praise, Serafall couldn't help but raise a hand to her mouth. "Ufufufufufu! That's my sister you are talking about! Of course she was this strong, this smart!"

"Even so, most of the Sitri's members are spent, leaving only the Rook with sufficient strength to battle. Her strategies may have allowed her to obtain this advantageous situation, but that is as far as it goes. It now comes down to pure brute strength. Now that they no longer have the ability to hide, they would have to face Sairaorg head on." Sirzechs mused.

Odin stroked his moustache and began to laugh. "Hohohoho! Even so, for this display, that Sitri girl had certainly attained the best evaluations! Even if they lost, nobody would begrudge them, for putting up such an amazing performance! Especially that girl who fired the lightning, who acted as the eyes of the team, guiding them every step of the way! She is the most impressive member! The most valuable member! Tell me her name!"

Serafall puffed out her chest in pride. "She's my sister's Bishop, Reya Kusaka! Before her reincarnation, she was just an ordinary human, with a slight magical background!"

"Hohohoho! This acts as validation for your Evil Pieces plan, Ajuka-boya. Even as I say that, every single member of her Peerage is remarkable! The girl who achieved Touki. The Naginata user reaching Balance Breaker! The Absorption Line boy playing the battlefield like a puppet master, while siphoning their energy! All of them did well. All of them did." Odin nodded his head in affirmation.

"Now it's down to the last step. Can they overcome the great wall before them? Furthermore, Sairaorg's Pawn... I have a bad feeling about him." Azazel rubbed his chin in thought.

* * *

"One of Sairaorg's Knights has retired!"

"One of Sairaorg's Rooks has retired!"

"One of Sona's Bishop has retired!"

Sairaorg and Regulus stopped dead in their tracks, no longer following Sona and Aster through the marsh of trees, vines, and water which the both of them erected.

On Aster's back, Sona panted heavily even as she desperately grasped for any remaining demonic power in her body.

The both of them had gotten off to a good start, having found Kuisha Abbadon alone. Aster had managed to finish her off in one strike, the unsuspecting Queen retiring without the chance to even see her attacker.

While Sona had been tempted to ambush Regulus instead, removing the possibility of Sairaorg's Balance Breaker, he was always next to him. Which meant that despite Regulus not having immunity to physical attacks, they could not capitalise on it. Hence, she settled on Kuisha Abbadon, the most tricky member aside from Sairaorg and Regulus.

However, things got worse the moment they removed Kuisha Abaddon. Somehow, Regulus had managed to track them through the mist, despite Aster desperately assimilating herself into the environment. Ikari theorised that Regulus himself either had high spec senses from his Nemean Lion heritage, or his original strength was just too great to be so easily fooled by them.

Ever since then, both Aster and herself turned to their last resort, sprouting buds of Aster's Life Tree and Hell Thorn along with huge water bodies to delay the duo, as they lured them away. Aster and Sairaorg even came to blows twice, barely managing to disengage successfully. These efforts to slow him down had used up almost all of Sona's demonic power, and Aster's store of chakra in her familiars had also gotten fairly low.

Sairaorg's expression had moved from the originally ecstatic expression, to one of anger and rage, and finally, extreme calmness, as the announcements of his Peerage's defeat followed one by one.

With that last announcement, Sona experienced a moment of triumph, before it came down to extreme grimness. Sairaorg was now a lion backed to the wall, with no way out. A cornered rat would fight viciously with no regard for himself, let alone a lion.

Sona was under no illusion. Sairaorg was a fortress, all on his own. And her meagre troops were here to siege it despite being outgunned. This would be the hardest part of the fight yet.

"I suppose you are done running. Now that there's only Regulus and I, you will be coming towards me instead. After all, you can't hide from Regulus' senses, and I only need to eliminate you to win, Sona." Sairaorg spoke with deathly calmness.

"My Peerage might have fallen. But it's fine. If this is what you want, then we will do battle your way. I'll face all 6 of you on my own. Without power to back it up, all strategies are useless. I wished we could have a prideful and honor-filled fight, but I understand your drive, your reasoning!"

Sairaorg clenched his fist, raised it in front of him. "You are just like us! You desire to win, to prove yourself to those who dare laugh at your dream! For you, who were disdained by the Devils…! Only strength can pave your way! That is why… I will fight you with everything I have!"

Sona felt four presences land behind Aster. She climbed off Aster's back even as she continued facing forward towards Sairaorg. "Are all of you ready for the final fight?"

"Hai Kaichou!" Four determined voices rang out.

"This is the critical moment. We will win." She said calmly.

"Hai!"

The last bit of mist cleared, and for the second time of the Rating Game, Sona and Sairaorg saw each other's faces clearly.

There was a second of tranquility, before both sides exploded into action. Yellow bands dispersed from Sairaorig's limbs, even as white Touki surrounded him. With that, he leapt forward.

[True Fusion! First Gate, Gate of Opening! Second Gate, Gate of Regeneration! Third Gate, Gate of Life! Open!]

A white Yin Yang circle appeared on Aster's forehead, before fading away. The white and black lines that had threatened to burst out of her veins before were nowhere to be seen. She seemed as normal and harmless as she usually did.

Sona waved her hand forward. "Ikari! I give you permission!"

[Promotion! Queen!]

While Aster initially said she couldn't promote, it was because the Rook was used to reincarnate her, while the three Pawns were used for Ikari. This was why Aster successfully reincarnated with mixed Pieces, and became the first to do so.

Aster likely required more Points because she was the one who had the greatest affinity for, and was primarily the one in control of the body, resulting in her requiring the Rook, while Ikari received the Pawns. Sona knew that the Promotion didn't grant too much strength, since only 3 out of 8 Points were made of Pawns.

Still, at this point, every bit of strength counted. With True Fusion, the Third Gate, and the Promotion to Queen, Aster held the advantage over Sairaorg in his base state!

Aster flashed to Sairaorg's front, whose eyes widened in shock at her sudden speed. Lashing out with her leg, she smashed it against Sairaorg's hastily crossed arms, plunging him towards the ground.

_**Boom!** _

An earthquake resounded, shaking the entire battlefield. Sairaorg burst out of the rubble, laughing gleefully. "So you had that level of strength after all! It seems that as I am now, I can only defend myself! Hahahahaha! To think that I, Sairaorg Bael, who lived with my body as my creed, would fall behind somebody else younger than me in pure power!"

"Master!" Regulus cried out, landing beside Sairaorg.

Sairaorg turned towards Aster who had landed not far from him, backed by Tomoe and Tsubaki.

"Then. As promised. I will fight you with everything I have! Against the one Peerage that understands our pain, our anger, our despair! Regulus!"

"Master, you finally…!" Regulus grinned in anticipation, exposing his fangs. A golden light shone, and his form stretched as he turned into a golden lion. Regulus then seemingly turned into a mass of golden energy, and slammed into Sairaorg with an explosion. Sairaorg's smirk was the last thing Sona and her Peerage saw, before he was enveloped by golden light.

**My Lion, the King of Nemea! You who are called the Lion King! Respond to my rage and transform into my vesture! Balance Break!**

An even greater explosion of golden light happened with Sairaorg as the epicentre, encompassing everybody in the battlefield.

As the light died down, Sairaorg faced them wearing a suit of golden armor.

**Regulus Rey Leather Rex!**

Raising his hand and clenching it, he spoke. "This is the Longinus, Regulus Nemea. I found him just when he was slaughtering his user's killers, and tamed him with my heritage. Using my Pawns, I then reincarnated him.

With her eyebrows furrowed, Sona spoke. "We suspected. Regulus Nemea had not appeared for almost a decade, and one named Regulus, rumored to take up 7 Pawns, appeared by your side. Comparing it to Hyoudou Issei, the Sekiryuutei who used 8 Pawns… From the circumstances alone, I judged that there was a possibility he was either the wielder of Regulus Nemea, or Regulus Nemea himself, however low it was, and prepared for it."

Sairaorg gave a resigned smile. "I see. It seems that even this was not hidden from your eyes. Clearly, you have been consistently ten steps ahead of us."

His smile soon turned into a predatory one. "Now you are only left with the King, me. Then, let us see if you will succeed in this giant slaying, or if we will crush you into the ground!"

Having finished his words, he bounded forward in an instant, too fast for their eyes to follow. Appearing above Aster, he swung his leg downwards. Aster had an expression of shock at his extreme speed, barely raising her arms in time to block the kick. A shockwave burst out from the impact.

"Don't underestimate us! For Kaichou, for Ruruko-chan and Reya-chan!" Tomoe yelled out. As Aster blocked Sairaorg's kick, both Tomoe and Tsubaki, with their cutting edge made of Hell Thorn, sliced forward with their katana and naginata, piercing through his armor.

 _Snik. Snik_.

"What?!"

Both Tomoe and Tsubaki cried out in shock. Despite penetrating the armor easily, their blades had only given him a small cut. Just as they attempted to withdraw, Sairaorg bellowed.

"Hah!"

Swinging his arms around, he slammed his fists towards the both of them.

"Saji, Momo!" Sona cried out.

"Hai Kaichou!" A determined expression on their faces, Saji flicked out four lines while Momo erected barriers between Sairaorg and the Knight Queen duo. Two of the lines attached to Sairaorg's arms, and tugged them slightly off course before snapping from the extreme force, while the barriers bought Tomoe and Tsubaki a millisecond of respite before shattering. Lines taut, Saji pulled both Tomoe and Tsubaki back, barely managing to assist them in dodging Sairaorg's crippling fists.

"It's not over yet!" Glaring at Sairaorg, the two of them sprung forward. Despite the ineffectiveness of their strikes, Tomoe and Tsubaki still had determined looks on their faces. Every cut, every slash Sairaorg accumulated would weaken him ever so slightly for Aster and Sona to finish him off.

"Don't! Look! Away! From! Me!"

At his apparent distraction, Aster swivelled, slamming a fist into Sairaorg's face. He staggered back at the blow. Vines exploded from the ground, attempting to snare him even as Aster pressed forward to hold his attention. Sona knelt to the ground, a magic circle opening up.

One vine wrapped around his leg even as he shattered the others with his fists. Straining his leg, he tore the vine off. Aster took advantage of his distraction and whirled in the air, executing a tornado kick. Sairaorg raised his arms hurriedly and forcefully blocked the blow, the impact forcing him deeper into the marsh Sona created.

More vines snaked out, wrapping around him as he struggled. Tomoe and Tsubaki flashed forward, plunging their weapons as deeply as they could into the cocoon, before withdrawing.

Aster fell to her knees with the exertion. Gesturing with her hands, she created more and more vines to wrap around Sairaorg and attempted to squeeze him to the point he was retired forcefully. The cocoon constricted, gradually applying more and more force on the Bael heir within. With one hand stretched forward, Aster grew a gigantic black spike grew and sent it piercing through the cocoon, its tip visible on the other side.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

_**Boom!** _

As Sona expected, the cocoon of Life Tree vines did not hold him for long. Even the Hell Thorn spike did not pin him down for more then a second. An explosion of gold occurred with Sairaorg at its epicentre, his raging Touki blowing off his restraints in an instant.

Leaping out of the hole, he landed on the ground, panting in exhaustion. He held one hand to the wound in his abdomen, stemming the flow of blood.

"That won't be enough! Show me your conviction! Your belief! And I too, will reciprocate with my own! For our dreams! Our pride! Our honor!" Sairaorg bellowed.

With that said, he took off, achieving even higher speeds. Aster flashed after him, attempting to block him and tie him down. Unfortunately, she was too slow, and Sairaorg appeared in front of Tsubaki, sending out his fist.

At his action, a ghost of a smile danced at the edge of Tsubaki's lips.

"Mirror Alice." She intoned.

A mirror materialised before her, blocking Sairaorg's strike. Cracks spread across it, even as blood flowed from Tsubaki's mouth.

"So when the attack far outstrips my ability, there is a backlash…?! Even so… I won't lose here! Not when everything is at stake! Reflect, my Sacred Gear! Mirror Alice!"

The mirror, on the verge of shattering, held on through sheer force of will. The force of Sairaorg's kick was reflected at double its initial strength, destroying the armor on his chest and blowing him back.

"Kuha!" He groaned in pain, even as he turned in midair to face the irate Aster.

Slumping to the ground as blood leaked out of her eyes and nostrils, Tsubaki whispered. "This is it for me… Kaichou…"

"Sona's Queen has retired!"

"You!" Aster shrieked. Clasping her arms above her, she swung it down harshly on Sairaorg's head, blowing him into the ground. Tomoe flashed by with a new katana made of Hell Thorn, and stabbed it into him from the front, piercing deeply into his chest.

An instinctive punch from Sairaorg blew her away, shattering her Life Armor instantly. Aster howled in anger, engaging Sairaorg with bitter fury. Even so, there was still a difference in strength, and Aster could not gain the upper hand, even suffering several critical injuries.

Rolling on the ground, Tomoe ended up as a heap beside Sona, Momo and Saji. Vomiting blood, she wheezed. "Whew… I managed to… take one hit... thanks to Aster-chan's armor… Saji-kun... how are things?"

His lips held in a thin line, he stood up. "Kaichou. This is it."

Sona nodded her head, turning to face the three of them. "Rest assured. I will win. All of you… All of you did well."

The three of them smiled, before slowly collapsing to the floor one after another.

"One of Sona's Knights has retired!"

"One of Sona's Pawns has retired!"

"One of Sona's Bishops has retired!"

Sona turned back, looking towards Aster's reassuring back. Even as she looked towards Sairaorg, Sona could not help but feel peace and tranquility. The magic power she had now was the last dregs Saji could coax out of the four of them, Saji, Momo, Tomoe, and Tsubaki. She smiled, and invoked her lifeforce.

_They are all with me._

_This is it._

Raising her hand, a blue magic circle glowed. "Compress. Compress. Compress. Oh water, my magic, my life. Hear my wishes. Swivel. Swivel. Swivel. Like a bullet, bullet, bullet."

Water revolved around the centre of the tiny magic circle. Even when more and more water was added, the tiny ball of water no bigger than a grain of sand remained the same size. It began to turn, the grain of water revolving on the spot.

"And finally, penetrate and destroy my enemies!" She yelled, and the water bullet shot forth. With her aura sense, Aster already knew the actions Sona was taking, and was hiding it from Sairaorg even as she desperately defended herself. Vines erupted from the ground yet again, and Sairaorg leapt into the air, no longer falling for the same trick. Even so, he was exactly where Sona and Aster wanted him to be. As the water bullet sped towards his position, he jerked to his left in panic.

The bullet pierced into his right chest, blowing out his entire upper right side. From his sternum onwards, to the right pectorals, to his right arm, it was blown completely to bits.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

"RAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Both Sairaorg and Regulus howled in pain. His Balance Breaker was forcefully broken, and Regulus fell to the ground beside Aster while Sairaorg was blown backwards.

Aster knelt to the ground, panting heavily. The high speed combat while Sona was preparing the water bullet had left her critically injured. There was even a hole through her left shoulder, while her right leg was completely bent in the opposite direction. The Yin Yang circle on her forehead appeared, and began to flicker.

[We are running out of strength…! We can't hold this for much longer!]

Sona slumped to the ground in exhaustion, barely retaining her consciousness. Aster stumbled to her feet, limping towards the similarly downed and heavily injured Sairaorg.

[Even with that wound… He is still holding on to his consciousness… Actually struggling to stand up...!]

Darkness began to creep in from the corner of her vision. Aster stumbled her way forward, before falling to the ground. With her eyes fixed on Sairaorg, she crawled forward, hand after hand. The man was struggling to get to his feet, stumbling and falling to his knees due to his body's imbalance, even as he attempted to stem the bleeding with Touki.

[Getting… tired… Dizzy… even…. It seems… I too… am affected… by our body's… condition… We never… had it… so bad… before…] Ikari muttered drowsily.

As she came face to face with Sairaorg, she weakly raised up her fist, and smashed down with all the force she could muster.

"Sairaorg, the King, has retired."

"Sona, the King, has retired."

"This match… is a draw!"

* * *

In the VIP room, silence reigned.

"A draw." Azazel muttered in disbelief.

"A draw! Hahahahahahaha! What a draw it was! What a draw!" He began to laugh out loud.

"Just as Aster-chan struggled forward to defeat the enemy's King, so did Regulus. Both of them… are truly dedicated to their masters." Sirzechs murmured.

Serafall sniffled, wiping away a tear.

"This Game is already on the level of professional Rating Games in both strength and strategy. It might even break into the level of the top 10." Rudiger sighed. "The youths these days are absolutely terrifying. I'll have to be extremely careful the moment they come of age."

"That you have to. That you have to." Sirzechs agreed.

Odin gazed down with satisfaction. "I look forward to tomorrow's match. Remember, Reya Kusaka is the MVP! I, Odin, say so! Hohohohoho!"

Getting up from his seat, he walked leisurely towards the door.

Sirzechs exchanged glances with Azazel, Serafall, and Ajuka. "I suppose this is it then. Are you satisfied, Ajuka? You were the one who arbitrarily arranged this match."

"Indeed. I wanted to observe Aster's Fusion properly. And her True Fusion today had allowed me to see what I wanted to see."

Azazel then interjected. "Oi Ajuka. With this stunt, you better have something as an apology. In fact, Aster-chan has a project that requires both yours and my assistance. How about it? It will get Serafall-chan over there off your back as well. Hadn't she been stalking you and messing up all your stuff for arranging Sona-chan's match without her approval?"

Ajuka gave a quick glance at Serafall, who was glaring at him with narrowed eyes. He then turned away with a guilty and resigned expression, and sighed. "Fine…"

* * *

In the spectator room, Issei leaned back in his seat, eyes wide in amazement. "This is… the number 1 and 2 Peerages."

[At the end, Aster-chan and Sairaorg were solidly in the Ultimate Class. Perhaps even on par with some of the stronger ones, and definitely stronger than Kokabiel. And that Sitri girl, her mastery of Water Magic, her quantity and control of demonic power, also shows that she is in the Ultimate Class, even if it's on the lower end.] Ddraig remarked.

Kiba exhaled, the adrenaline rush fading away. "While we were in the spotlight, Kaichou's Peerage was mostly in the background, giving the illusion that we were ahead of them. I still foolishly believed in that illusion even after the display at the peace conference. But today's match… showed us that it is absolutely not true. I never even realised Tsubaki-senpai had achieved Balance Breaker, that Saji-kun had learnt puppeteering, that Tsubasa-senpai had achieved Touki… In fact, they are striding ahead of us."

Koneko chewed on her Kinder Bueno, and spoke. "... Extreme growth. Great synergy. Kaichou's Peerage, more than the sum of its parts."

Rias closed her eyes tightly, and reopened them. Turning to face her Peerage, she said firmly. "One step at a time! Tomorrow, we face Diodora Astaroth! I've told you about him haven't I?! That bastard who engineered Asia's excommunication! Who wants to take her away from us even now! Tomorrow, we will teach him a lesson, understood!"

Issei leapt out of his seat. "Yea! That asshole better not touch Asia-chan! Or I'll beat him black and blue, strip his Peerage with my Dress Break, and rape them with my eyes!"

_Slap._

"Issei. Hentai." Koneko muttered, as she chewed on the second bar of Kinder Bueno. Issei knelt on the floor, his hands rubbing his head in pain.

"Issei-san…" Asia murmured, touched to the point of crying.

"Get a good sleep tonight, my servants! We will face Diodora tomorrow!"

As Rias watched her Peerage stream out of the room, she glanced down at her hand, and clenched it.

_Sona, you have moved so far ahead of me. But I will catch up! I too, have my dream!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't expect it to take this many words. I really wanted to put Gremory vs Astaroth in the same chapter, but oh well.
> 
> It was only after I finished the bulk of the chapter, when I had a shocking realisation. I'm too heavily influenced by Naruto! Hiding in the Mist Jutsu! Mokuton: Jukai Koutan! Desert Coffin! (vines instead of sand) Even the marsh was Jiraiya's! Just… What.
> 
> Senbonzakura, a Bleach reference if I'm not wrong. I say it without certainty because I never watched Bleach, and mainly picked up the idea from a fic I read before, the Aegis of Fairy Tail. Same concept.
> 
> I had to make it a draw. It was just too far fetched for Sona's Peerage to win tbh. I was even thinking of letting them lose, but after all the outplays Sona made, well…
> 
> Hope you enjoyed chapter 9, and I'll see ya'll next time!


	10. Attack Averted! Love Blooms!

Aster slowly awakened from her slumber, and sat upright. Looking over her body, she found that the wound on her left shoulder had closed, and was only left with some superficial damage. Her broken leg had been set properly, but still felt slightly weaker than the other.

She looked around, and realised their location. They were clearly in one of the Sitri’s medical facilities, likely the one near Sona’s home.

[You are awake.]

[Yes. Result?]

[... It was a draw. Regulus too had crawled his way to Sona, defeating her at the same time we defeated Sairaorg.]

She exhaled in resignation. [... Pity.]

Sliding off the bed, Aster staggered to the door, and headed for Sona’s and Reya’s room. The two had overdrawn their lifeforce, and were placed in the same room to be treated together. Regardless, no treatment would be as effective as a Senjutsu user nourishing them with lifeforce.

[We’ve been asleep for 12 hours. There’s still another 10 hours before the Astaroth and Gremory’s match. We have time to heal everybody up, even if we won’t recover fully.]

As she entered the room, Aster eyed the duo lying in the Life Tree beds she made beforehand, and placed her palms on both of them. Closing her eyes, she began pushing lifeforce into them, using it as a medium to regulate and transform it into one best suited for Devils. When she finished the first infusion, she exhaled in relief.

Climbing into the bed with Sona, she breathed in her scent and relaxed, closing her eyes as she fell back to sleep. The entire time, neither Aster nor Ikari had noticed the small turtle floating beside the door snoring.

  
  


“A draw… I see…” Sona exhaled.

“Kaichou…”

“Sona-chan…”

Sona turned to her Peerage and gave them a brilliant smile. “It’s fine. Our evaluations are extremely high. It's virtually guaranteed that nobody else would earn a better one than ours. While we didn’t win, it wasn’t a loss either. From what I heard, we clearly impressed the higher echelons.”

Smiles and grins were spread among the Peerage, and Sona turned to Reya who were sitting beside her.

“Reya, you were named the MVP of the Peerage. It was said that Odin himself titled you so. There’s even a good chance of you having the title of MVP for the entire first round of matches! Be proud!”

Reya turned as red as an apple and ducked her head. “It wasn’t much, Kaichou. I just carried out the plan as you told me to.”

At her statement, the rest of the Peerage came forward and congratulated her.

“Don’t be so humble!”

“Reya-chan! Good job!”

Saji then scratched his head and pointed towards the doorway. “Anyway… Kaichou, why is there a turtle floating beside the door? How is it doing that anyway? Is it a demon turtle?!”

[How… We didn’t notice it either with our aura sense!] Ikari muttered in shock.

[Senjutsu master. Definitely.]

Sona gestured towards the turtle. “Ah. You are half right. That’s my Onee-chan’s Rook, a great sea turtle called Aspidochelone. He’s even several times older then my Onee-chan. Anyway, he’s here to guard us today because we expect trouble during the Gremory vs Astaroth game, especially as weakened as we are.”

“He’s a Senjutsu master, and can conceal himself very well. In his current form, we can pass him off as one of our familiars which is the main reason Onee-chan assigned him to us. Even so, he won’t move unless we are in life-threatening danger, so don’t expect him to protect us preemptively.”

Tsubasa raised a finger to her lips as she looked at the turtle up close. “I think it's more like he can’t be bothered to move…? He seems to love his sleep very much.”

Sona sighed. “Yes he does. Onee-chan told me before that he would sleep for decades before waking up. There was even one time he slept for three centuries straight.”

“Back to the topic. I have given Rias a teleportation formation. If our information is correct, there will likely be an attack by the Khaos Brigade today, with three goals. Only two pertains to us however. They intend to sow chaos and grievously harm the higher echelons, while removing the heirs of the current Satans. Which, as you would realise, include both me and Rias.”

“Security around the heirs have been discreetly increased, including Sairaorg and Seekvaira. The main problem lies with Rias, as the attack is expected to come during her Rating Game. Hence, I have seen fit to give her a high end teleportation formation, where she can summon us even through the Rating Games barrier. That is where Aspidochelone comes in. He will also act as Rias’ guard.”

Momo raised her hand. “Kaichou, you didn’t mention the Astaroth heir?”

Sona grimaced. “We had suspicions regarding him, and the information we found were damning. He is in league with the Khaos Brigade.”

“... What?!”

“That traitor!”

“Why would it ever be a good thing to ally with the Khaos Brigade?!”

Aster raised her hand and spoke. “Idiot. Only thinks, with little Diodora.”

For a moment, the Peerage didn’t catch on to her meaning. And then the realisation hit.

“Aster-chan!!!!”

“Somebody… corrupted Aster-chan…!”

“Ikari! Die!”

[It wasn’t me!!!!]

Sona clapped a hand to her forehead and sighed. “I informed all of you so that we could be prepared for the teleportation. Anyway, until the Astaroth and Gremory match, there isn’t much for us to do. Rest well, but stay together. We have no guarantee that they would not attack at any other times.”

“Hai Kaichou!”

* * *

Sona and Reya soon fell back asleep, resting from their usage of lifeforce. So too, did Aster, after she infused lifeforce into the beds yet again. The rest of the Peerage milled around, rewatched the Rating Game from the spectator perspective, and generally made themselves comfortable.

It wasn’t long before it was finally time for the Gremory vs Astaroth Rating Game. The Sitri Peerage settled themselves down in the spectator room, waiting for the livestream of the match to begin. As the clock struck 7pm, and continued to tick by without any change on the screen, Sona took in a deep breath and exhaled.

“The organisers aren’t the type to be late. The attack has started. Everybody, prepare yourselves.”

The warning came not a moment too late, as a magic formation shone beneath their feet. The crimson light quickly covered them and they disappeared.

Striding out of the light, they came face to face with the hundreds of Devils surrounding Rias’ Peerage. They were already turtling up to defend themselves against the siege. Aster noted with relief that Asia was still defended securely within the group, even as Diodora flew in the sky screaming profanities at them. Clearly, the advanced warning had done them well, allowing them to move quickly to defend Asia and to set up a defensive formation.

“Sona, I truly did not wish to call on you, given the severe injuries all of you received the day before. However, as you can see, we are in a bind. Furthermore, that stupid bird in the sky keeps trying to steal Asia away from us while we fend the rest off!”

“It’s fine. We were prepared for the possibility. My servants, merge into their formation as we planned and we’ll hold them off!”

The moment they reappeared, Aster blended into the surroundings, essentially hiding herself in plain sight. Leaping onto a pillar, she waited patiently and observed the situation. She looked in curiosity at a bulbous and monstrous form impaled on blades.

[Seems like Freed is already dead, pierced on one of the spikes of Durandal Birth.] Ikari muttered.

The situation wasn’t terrible. As it was, the Gremory Peerage had successfuly managed to hold off the enemy Devils. Xenovia and Kiba had held one side with their holy swords and their combination technique Durandal Birth, anathema to the enemy Devils. Issei in his Balance Breaker was defending another side together with Koneko, while Rias and Akeno rained death and destruction on the final side. Gasper and Asia stayed in the centre, using their Sacred Gears to support when needed.

It wasn’t something they could do for long, the amount of firepower they were sending out was simply not sustainable for them. This was where the Sitri Peerage came in. Tsubasa and Ruruko quickly joined the two Knights, acting as their shields to decrease the pressure on them. Hence, they were no longer required to utilise the taxing technique Durandal Birth, and could maintain their stamina and killing speed.

Tomoe and Tsubaki joined Koneko and Issei. While the duo acted as their shield, Tomoe and Tsubaki with their speed played around the both of them easily, killing off the Devils with speed and efficiency.

Sona joined Rias and Akeno in raining spells after spells on the final side. While she was unable to utilise powerful spells like she did before due to her current injury, she easily corralled the enemies with her Water Magic, allowing Rias and Akeno to kill more with their Power of Destruction and Holy Lightning.

Finally, Reya, Saji and Momo joined Gasper and Asia in the centre. Using Reya’s detection and communication magic, Momo was guided to effectively block any critical strikes to the members, or to act as the final line of defence for the artillery trio with her razor sharp barriers. Saji on the other hand sent out as many lines as he could, siphoning power from the enemies and refilling those on their side. He worked in concert with Momo to protect their members. Unable to use two types of magic at the same time due to her injury, Reya merely focused on guiding and directing the battle, taking up the role as a communication and directing hub effortlessly.

“The Sitri Peerage! But it doesn’t matter! Struggle all you want, but Asia is mine while all of you will die here! Claiming the head of yet another heiress is just another bonus for us!”

Diodora laughed maniacally, raising a vial to his mouth. His demonic power burst out in a violent aura, and he dived down at an impressive and unexpected speed. Easily bypassing Momo’s barriers thanks to his explosive increase in speed, he pounced on Asia, planning to grab her and escape.

[Now!]

Aster leapt off the pillar silently, flashing behind the unsuspecting Diodora.

“Wha…?! ARRRRGGHHHH” Diodora howled in pain, falling to the ground in a heap.

Aster landed beside him, holding the pair of wings in her hands. At his scream of pain, Sona turned towards him, with a grim smile on her face. “You didn’t think we left the sky undefended did you? It’s your defeat, Diodora.”

“You damned girl! I won’t lose here! How can I lose here?! I am the heir of the Astaroth! I was going to defeat the failed heir of the Bael, and even you! The pathetic Sitri heiress! And take Hell by storm, together with my newest slave, Asia!”

Sona shook her head in disgust. “Aster-chan, shut him up. My ears are defiled everytime I hear him speak.”

“Hai.”

Placing a palm to his chest, Aster invoked her power of death, and caused the magical pathways in his body to all decay. Diodora was left only with the ones necessary for survival.

A piercing squeal similar to that of a gutted pig rang out, before fading away almost instantly. Diodora slumped to the ground, unconscious due to the excruciating pain. Even with Ophis’ snake, Diodora was essentially crippled. Only a master of Senjutsu could possibly heal him after decades of treatment. Healing was after all, far more difficult than destruction.

Under the feet of both Peerages, a magic circle shone.

Sona glanced down, and an expression of panic grew on her face “A teleportation formation?! It’s leading to… the Dimensional Gap?!”

Light began to engulf every member, with the exception of Hyoudou Issei. An expression of terror and fear was evident on his face, even as he continuously swung his fists at the magic formation before them.

“No! I won’t let you take them! Not Buchou and my friends!”

[Boost!][Boost!][Boost!][Boost!][Boost!][Boost!][Boost!][Boost!][Boost!][Boost!]

Despite his continuously increasing strength and power, the magic formation remained unaffected and glowed even brighter.

The snoring turtle floating inconspicuously by Sona’s side finally cracked open an eyelid at the occurrence.

_Shatter_.

The magical formation was broken in an instant.

_Clap. Clap. Clap_

“It seems you were all prepared for our attack. I am curious. How did the information leak out? Our initial plan to use Reversal on the nun’s Sacred Gear, followed by sacrificing her life force to kill the fake Satans was seen through. Our secondary plan to drive the Sekiryuutei to insanity, transport him into the VIP room and unleash his Juggernaut Drive to kill or wound them failed as well. Did one of you hold a teleportation sealing or destroying formation?”

Without waiting for an answer, Shalba Beezlebub shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Even if the teleportation had failed, we can still finish the secondary plan, if I kill everybody except the Sekiryuutei here! And I'll start with your most precious person, the heiress to the Gremory family!

Faster than the eye could track, he flashed forward. Only with her aura sense could Aster track him, barely moving in time to forcefully block the fist aimed at Rias. She was blown away in an instant, bouncing off the ground and slamming into a pillar.

[Kuh! He’s near the peak of the Ultimate Class, far stronger then Sairaorg in his Balance Breaker! Not even the Third Gate, True Fusion and Queen Promotion could hold him off!]

“Buchou! Nooooo!”

“Rias!”

As Shalba brought his other fist down on Rias’ head, a spike flew out, piercing into his hand and pinning it into the ground. More spikes shot out, turning him into a pincushion and nailing him to the ground

Shalba gurgled blood at the injuries, even as he turned to the source of the spikes. “Who… Who are you?! You are… far stronger than me… Yet I don’t recognise you!”

A deep baritone voice rang out. “Of course not. the Leviathan kid doesn’t have the habit of parading her Peerage around. Of course nobody recognises us.”

Shalba’s eyes widened in shock, before closing them in resignation. “The Leviathan kid… Even if she is a fake Satan… She is still one of the most powerful Devils... And you would call her a child? A monstrous beast like you… Why would you join her Peerage?”

He shrugged. “I merely wish to sleep without being disturbed. And in Hell, nobody would bother me, unlike the Human Realm where they tie huge boats to me, making my back itch when I am in my original form.”

“In my smaller form, it didn’t get any less annoying, It’s vexing to keep waking up and finding myself in an aquarium, or to somebody trying to crack open my shell. You have no idea how many times I ended up in front of humans using tools from knives, to drills, to even diamond cutters to try and open my shell or skin.”

“Regardless, with this, I’ll have fulfilled my quota of requests for the next century. I can go back to sleep right after this. Therefore…”

His eyes gleamed red. “Die for me.”

Shalba shrieked, as the thorns in his body violently rotated and drilled their way through. His body quickly turned into mush, laying on the ground.

He turned to the remaining Devils, who were backing away from the battle. 

He said dispassionately. “The rest of you can die too.”

Spikes flew off from his back, raining down on the enemy Devils. Even when they summoned barriers to block the spikes or attempted to destroy them with their powers, they easily pierced through and stabbed into their body. A glow of green appeared on each spike, and all of them crumbled into dust.

Aspidochelone turned towards the Sitri and Gremory Peerage, and spoke gruffly. “Let’s go. We are done here, and I can finally go and hibernate for another century.”

All of them gulped their saliva, and responded. “Understood.”

* * *

“Wow… Last time we didn’t have time to try the hot springs in Hell. But this time, we are here! This is fantastic!” Tomoe whooped, splashing about in the water.

“That’s right! Kaichou really does arrange some of the best rewards.” Ruruko cried out, paddling after the hyperactive Knight.

“Well, all of us did really well. I’m really happy Kaichou decided to ease up on us, letting us have a week of a true vacation. After all, we forced a tie with the Bael Peerage, and entered another massive battle the day after. All of us had reached our limits then.” Tsubasa spoke.

“It’s such a pity Gen-chan isn’t with us, or we can tease him all day long! Governor Azazel dragged him off a day after the attack, stating he wanted to train him personally. I wonder what’s with that?” Momo wondered.

There were only a few days left until the end of Summer Break. After the attack, most of the Old Satans Faction had been defeated, leaving them practically as a headless chicken. The Satans, Azazel, and Odin had come face to face with Ophis, managing to clarify their doubts and confirm some of the information Sona had transmitted to them.

“Hey, hey. What do you guys think about Kaichou and Aster-chan? While they are still changing and aren't here yet!” Tomoe paddled over and started whispering in excitement.

Tsubaki sighed. “I think they are the cutest, yet the most oblivious couple I have ever met. It’s ridiculous. Everybody can tell that they are in a relationship! Except the two of them, apparently.”

“That’s right, that’s right. I thought I was overthinking things for some time, you know!” Tomoe nodded her head firmly.

Reya raised a finger to her chin thoughtfully. “I mean, it’s really obvious. Kaichou always calls us by the first name without honorifics, but whenever it's Aster-chan’s turn, she calls her with a chan attached. And Aster-chan calls her Sona-chan, and Kaichou doesn’t object either. She also goes home and sleeps with Kaichou everyday, and I meant that in the pure manner. We’ve been with Kaichou for so many years, yet none of us had ever done that!”

Tsubasa tilted her head as she sank into the hot spring in bliss. “It started on the very first day, you know? I wouldn’t be surprised if Kaichou had fallen in love at first sight, but just didn’t recognise it.”

Tsubaki raised a hand to her forehead, palming herself in the face in resignation. “That’s probably the case. Even though Kaichou is so intelligent… She just isn’t the type to think too deeply about her emotions, and probably doesn’t even know her own orientation. I’m beginning to think that she cancelled her engagement because she mistook her preference for women for a dislike of stupid men, even if there isn’t too much of a difference between the two.”

Momo frowned and spoke worryingly. “How is it going to work out though? I support both of them in their relationship, but…”

Tsubaki waved her hand at her. “Don’t worry too much, since Devils are well-versed in lust. Something like being lesbian won’t affect their reputation. Furthermore, Aster-chan has the power of life, you know? I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a Senjutsu technique precisely for that purpose.”

At her words, both Momo and Reya turned beetroot red, sinking down into the hot spring to hide their faces.

“Shhhh! The two of them are here!” Tomoe quickly raised a finger to her lips and hushed them.

The Peerage quieted down as their figures approached. The door opened and both Sona and Aster appeared, settling down on the edge of the hot spring and sliding their legs into the water.

Sona looked up at them and spoke. “Good work everybody. We performed exceedingly well, even having better evaluations then the Agares Peerage despite their stellar performance against the Glasya-Labolas Peerage. Reya was even named the MVP of the first round.”

Looking them in the eyes one after the other, she continued. “Our next match will be against the Glasya-Labolas Peerage, while Rias and her Peerage will face Agares. Now that the Astaroth Peerage has been eliminated, the Bael Peerage will not be involved in the second round, as they are the undisputed Rank 1 in strength despite their dismal performance in the first match. Still, from their performance and attitude, I don’t believe Zephyrdor and his Peerage will be too difficult an opponent. We will have time to rest and train, preparing ourselves for the third round where we will face either the Gremory or Agares Peerage, both of which are fairly powerful ones.”

She gave them a bright smile. “Now rest up, and enjoy yourselves! Aside from our basic training in the morning, you can go on and spend the afternoons and evenings however you like for the rest of Summer Break, before we return to school.”

“Hai Kaichou!”

“Hai Sona-chan!”

* * *

“So this is the issue… Certainly an interesting proposition.” Ajuka mused as he looked over Aster and the two plants in her hands.

Azazel guffawed at his statement. “Isn’t that right? Hahahahahaha! It’s such a crazy idea!”

Looking at Aster in worry, Serafall spoke. “Are you sure, Aster-chan? It’s really dangerous, and has never been done before! You are already at the Ultimate Class, a few more decades and you would be among the strongest of that rank! Why would you want to undergo such a dangerous operation?”

Aster shook her head and stared back steadily. “Too slow. Limits of potential, too low. Must change foundation.”

“So you decided that you want to use the Life Tree and Hell Thorn as your base, elevating and combining them to form a mini World Tree before transferring your spirit and Evil Pieces into it. Essentially, you are redesigning yourself from the ground up. I can see why you came to me, because the process is fairly similar to that of creating an artificial Sacred Gear.” Azazel grinned at her.

Ajuka continued to scrutinise the plants. “It seems you have already begun the process, connecting your consciousness to the two plants instead of allowing them to form their own sentience, thereby increasing your spiritual affinity to them. What is left is to elevate and combine the both of them, which will require a multitude of rare materials, some of which can only be obtained from the World Tree itself. Hmm, the operation will be a delicate one indeed. I’ll have to spend quite a bit of time to formulate it.”

Leaning back, he spoke. “I’ll spend some time ruminating on this. Meanwhile, Serafall and Azazel can start collecting the materials for the operation. Though you should take note, we have no clue when we can proceed with the operation since it depends on how soon the materials can be found. As for the specifics of the operation itself... A few months should be enough for me to formulate it. If we succeed in securing the Sephiroth Graal user, the process can go even smoother.

Azazel held out his palms, where a leaf and a droplet of black, yet clear water floated. “I already have some of them. Here Aster-chan! A fruit from the Tree of Life on the Third Heaven, and a drop of water from the Underworld Spring! Place them in your familiars. Over time, they will slowly absorb them and grow even closer to that of a World Tree.”

A small smile grew on her face, and Aster nodded her head. “Hai!”

She then withdrew the Life Tree and Hell Thorn. Stepping out of the room, she moved towards the anxious Sona, giving her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

Saji stood beside her in a contemplative manner. While Aster had come to consult Ajuka and Azazel, Sona had accompanied her to check in on Saji, before the end of Summer Break.

Turning to Saji, Sona spoke. “Was the training fruitful, Saji?”

He raised both of his arms at her question. Two vambraces materialised on his arms while a knee-high armored boot grew on his ankle, gleaming with a slight purple light. “I’m still making my way there, Kaichou. I’ve managed to attain a sufficient level of control over the second and third Vritra Sacred Gear, Blaze Black Flare and Shadow Prison. For the time being, I’ll have to get used to them and use them like it’s second nature, before Azazel-sensei would consider implanting the final one, and awakening Vritra’s consciousness with Hyoudou’s help.”

Dematerialising his Sacred Gears, his arms fell limp by his side. “Did you know, Kaichou? I felt so useless during the battle. I was only able to support the rest of the Peerage, and had no value on my own. Even Momo-senpai and Reya-senpai… The both of them have their cutting barriers and Lightning Magic to act as their offence. As for me, I couldn’t do anything.”

“... I know.” Sona was silent for a moment, before speaking simply.

“At the end of it, Reya-senpai had to use her lifeforce for the rest of us. If I had an overwhelming power, I could have transferred the strength I gathered to the others instead of overloading Reya-senpai, allowing them to fight the others on equal footing while I dealt the final blow instead! None of us would have retired! We would have faced Sairaorg-sama with a full, healthy Peerage!

“Reya-senpai wouldn’t have to draw on her lifeforce, and still be struggling with the injury even now… If I had a stronger power… That’s why, when Governor Azazel told me he had a way to make me powerful, make me strong, I told him I would do it! No matter how painful it would be!”

Sona smiled at his admission. Turning around, she patted Saji on the shoulder. “That’s an impressive resolution, Saji. I await the day you master all four of Vritra’s Sacred Gears, becoming a Pawn on par with Issei! Also, I wish you luck in your pursuit of Reya. I support you!”

“Eh? EEEEEEHHHHHHHH?!”

Aster and Sona giggled as they walked away, leaving the dumbfounded Saji frozen to his spot.

Aster nudged her in the side, and spoke quietly. “Sona-chan, mean!”

Sona couldn’t help but snicker at her words. “But it was so obvious! He was all over Reya after the day of the Rating Game! I just helped him gain a deeper understanding of his emotions, and gave him a push!”

“Kaichou?! What do you mean!?” Saji finally unfroze and cried out, even as his face and neck turned completely red. He quickly chased after the two giggling girls in a panic.

* * *

Once again, the four Satans sat around a table. Sirzechs laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. “We have verified most of the information Sona has compiled and sent us. We will now be starting our counter attack.”

For once, Ajuka was not doing any magical calculations, and had an unusually serious expression. “The most important one is Trihexia’s seals. No matter what, we must secure the area with our full force. 

Sirzechs nodded his head in agreement. “That is why you, Azazel and Michael will be headed there secretly. The three of you together should be able to handle any forces in the area, and inspect the seals afterwards. I have full confidence in the three of you, as both you and Azazel are our most knowledgeable, and Michael is the most familiar with God’s work. Be sure to reclaim the last Holy Grail, as it is the most likely place to host it.”

Looking towards Falbium, he continued. “Falbium, you’ll take charge of Hell during this period of time. We will crush the Great King Faction with every available forces we have that is stationed in Hell. Using the King Piece, manipulating the Rating Games over and over again… It cannot continue. You may take Sairaorg and Seekvaira, together with their Peerages as we are lacking in manpower. I assume Diehauser would be happy to lead the strike force as well.

“Zzzz… Fine… I suppose… It is time… for me… to finally… use my position… as the in charge… of Military Affairs…”

With his reply, Sirzechs turned towards Serafall. “Have you informed the other two of their tasks?”

A bright smile on her face, she nodded energetically. “Ria-tan and her Peerage will be escorting Odin, luring Loki out for them to finish him off. Vali and his team will be assisting them. They can’t reject that Sage Monkey’s orders after all. So-tan and her Peerage will be heading to Kyoto with me, to liaise with the Youkai there. Finally, Aster-chan is headed to Romania with Aspi-chan, to take away Valerie-chan secretly ☆!”

Sirzechs sighed. “Didn’t you promise him you would let him sleep for another century?”

Raising a finger to her chin, Serafall had a thoughtful look, before she began to pout. “I did? Oh poor Aspi-chan ☆!”

“It’s fine. I expect their actions in Romania to lure out Rizevim, given that the Evil Dragons plan is so important to him. I will have words with him, while The Great Sage, Sun Wukong, will hold off Crom Cruach. Grayfia… will settle her business with Euclid.”

He then looked up at them. “Gabriel will handle Heaven’s side of dissensions, while retrieving the hidden Fruit of Life and Fruit of Wisdom. She will also station troops near Romania to provide the manpower to fight off any Evil Dragons that might have already been created. Meanwhile, Shemhazai will direct the Grigori to hold off the Khaos Brigade, buying time for our operations to finish. They too will begin reaching out to other mythologies to obtain a peace treaty.”

“Understood.”

“Hai, Sirzechs-chan ☆!”

“Zzzz… Zzzzz…”

Relaxing, Sirzechs leaned back on his seat. “That is the limit of our powers. If we could, I would attack the Evil Gods and the Khaos Brigade as well, but I suppose this will be fine. Khaos Brigade can act as our sharpening tools for our younger generation, and the Evil Gods can be a future challenge for them as well.”

His mouth drew a thin line. “I can only hope that everything goes smoothly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is saddening, but I must apologise as I have abandoned this fic. I love it even now, but the flaws were all too glaring and finally got to me.
> 
> The pacing was off the charts. There wasn’t any character development. Everything was just me on adrenaline and bulldozing my way through. If just 50k words in and the fact that we are already at the endgame doesn’t clue you in… then I wouldn’t know what would.
> 
> It was great though. I love Aster and Ikari as my characters, and I felt that Sona was the only character I didn’t forget to develop (which might not even be good). The battles were awesome. Kokabiel vs Aster was great, and the Sitri vs Bael chapter still gave me shivers and made me reread it over and over even now.
> 
> The endgame required a far slower pacing, which when compared to the previous 10 chapters, it was like a bullet train falling off the rails and slamming into the ground. It thoroughly threw me off and made it next to impossible for me to write.
> 
> I have started on several other fics which I hope will not have the same flaws, but they are all in other fandoms. I’m still not sure which one I would like to share as I hadn’t gotten too far in them, so I wouldn’t be posting anything for the next month or so, or perhaps longer.
> 
> It’s been a wild ride, and I hope to see y’all at my next fic, whenever it may be.


End file.
